US energy giant Chevron has signed a preliminary deal with state-owned EGAS to send natural gas supplies from its offshore Mediterranean fields to Egypt’s liquefaction and export plants.
Chevron and EGAS signed the memorandum of understanding on Monday, according to a statement by Egypt’s petroleum ministry.
Under the deal, Chevron would look into transport, import, liquefaction and export of natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean, the statement said.
Chevron has a 39.66 percent-owned and operated interest in the Leviathan gas field located some 130 km offshore from Haifa, Israel. Covering about 49,000 net acres Leviathan is Israel’s largest energy project.
The field delivered first gas in 2019. In 2020 production ramped up, averaging 242 million net cubic feet of natural gas per day, according to Chevron’s website.
Chevron and its partners in Leviathan are also looking into installing a floating LNG producer to liquefy gas from Leviathan.
The company has a 25 percent-owned and operated interest in the Tamar gas field just east of Leviathan as well.
Chevron has a large presence in the LNG industry and operates the Gorgon and Wheatstone projects in Australia and the Angola LNG plant.
The company’s CEO Mike Wirth recently said that the firm plans to further boost its LNG position, as Europe looks to secure additional supplies.
European LNG needs
The signing of the deal with Egypt follows an announcement earlier this month by the European Union to secure LNG supplies, as part of its plans to slash reliance on Russian gas pipeline deliveries.
The EU Commission signed a memorandum of understanding in Kairo with Egypt and Israel.
Under the deal, Europe would receive natural gas from Israel, Egypt and other sources in the Eastern Mediterranean region via Egypt’s LNG export infrastructure, the statement said.
In April, Italy’s Eni signed a deal with EGAS to increase Egyptian LNG exports to Europe, and specifically to Italy.
The two firms are partners in the 5 mtpa Damietta liquefaction plant in Egypt. The facility started exporting LNG again in February last year following a deal between Egypt’s EGPC and EGAS, Eni, and Naturgy.
Besides the Damietta LNG facility, Egypt also has the Shell-operated Egyptian LNG facilities, located at Idku.
Other partners in the 7.2 mtpa Idku facility include TotalEnergies, Petronas, EGAS, and EGPC.