It looks like our USD 35 bn natural gas import agreement with Israel is moving forward after all. Leviathan partner NewMed confirmed in a disclosure (pdf) that as of Thursday, all conditions precedent for the agreement have been satisfied.

Setting the stage to meet export quotas: Leviathan partners Chevron, NewMed Energy, and Ratio Energies took a USD 2.4 bn final investment decision to nearly double the field’s production capacity.

Egypt ultimately dropped reservations over “Israel-first” clauses that give the Israeli Energy Ministry the power to slash sales to Egypt by up to 60% starting in 2036 to satisfy its own domestic grid if the regulator thinks it needs the gas at home.

Stage one of the expansion will see Leviathan nearly double production capacity to 21 bcm a year from 12 bcm, with increased gas flows from the expansion to start in 2H 2029. New wells, expanded subsea infrastructure, and the removal of pipeline bottlenecks will allow for imports to Egypt to gradually ramp up to 2.1 bcf/d.

MEANWHILE- Officials in Cairo are working to line up fresh flows from Cyprus, with a final investment decision to bring online the 3.1 tcf Cronos field and export its output to Egypt to be announced in March during the Egypt Energy Show, industry publication Mees reports. Egypt will re-export the Cypriot gas as LNG.

The Israel and Cyprus import agreements are key to Egypt’s positioning as the premier energy hub in the Eastern Mediterranean, covering conventional, clean, and new energy.

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