First a trickle, then a flood: Gas imports from Israel are set to increase to 650 mn cubic feet per day by Thursday and reach pre-war levels of 800 mn cubic feet per day towards the beginning of next week, Bloomberg reports, citing an industry insider it says is familiar with the matter. The projection comes after gas flows to Egypt rose 60% to 250-400 mn cubic feet per day after the reopening of the Chevron-run Tamar gas field on Monday. The field is ramping up production and is expected to reach full capacity “within a few days,” according to unnamed industry sources quoted by Reuters.

Remember: The Israeli government shut down operations at Tamar last month on the back of what it said were security concerns as the IDF began its war on Gaza — and as Israel ordered that gas production from other sites prioritize the domestic market. That slashed gas exports to just 100 mn cubic feet per day, according to an industry insider we spoke to.

The East Mediterranean Gas pipeline that sends gas from Israel to Egypt’s Arish in North Sinai resumed exports yesterday, Chevron said in a statement cited by Reuters. The pipeline had been closed for a month after Chevron suspended exports through it at the start of the war.

Eni is still banging the LNG export drum: Italian energy giant Eni thinks it will restart exports of LNG from Egypt “by December, possibly January,” according to comments by ENI’s gas and LNG head Cristian Signoretto on Tuesday quoted by Reuters. Falling consumption in Egypt as we leave hot summer weather in our rearview means Eni will “be able to resume LNG exports even if Tamar does not return to full production.”

But Bloomberg is still pessimistic: LNG exports are expected to be 40% down on forecasts made only a month earlier according to Bloomberg, citing its own BloombergNEF projections.

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