Israel will not object if its exported gas reaches Lebanon: Minister

JERUSALEM- Israel’s energy minister said on Tuesday that it would not be a problem if Israeli natural gas that is exported to Egypt makes its way to Lebanon, a long-time enemy that is dealing with an energy crisis.

Lebanon has already signed a deal with Jordan that aims to ease crippling power shortages by transmitting electricity across neighbouring Syria, and it is looking to get gas from Egypt as well.

Egypt produces its own gas but still needs imports from the Israeli offshore natural gas field Leviathan. Leviathan also supplies Jordan.

“There’s a big energy crisis in Lebanon,” Energy Minister Karine Elharrar told Israel’s Army Radio. “Nobody can go and inspect the molecules and check whether they originally came from Israel or Egypt.”

If gas exports that reach Lebanon “bring calm to the region, I can’t object to it”, she added.

The likely route for the gas supplies, given the current network of pipelines, would be from Leviathan to a pipeline across Israel into Jordan, bypassing Egypt, said Amit Mor, CEO of Israeli consulting and investment firm Eco Energy.

From there, it would go north through Syria and into Lebanon via the Arab Gas Pipeline.

He estimated that the Leviathan partners would stand to earn an extra $100 million in revenue each year with such an arrangement.

Delek Drilling (DEDRp.TA), a partner in Leviathan, declined to comment.

Elharrar participated in an industry event in Cairo on Monday where she received a warm welcome from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Representatives from Iraq and Yemen – countries that have no ties with Israel over its occupation of Palestinians – were also in attendance.

Egyptian Gas

Egypt produces about 1,742,018 Million Cubic Ft (MMcf) and its consumption is 1,692,930.

Egypt is currently the fastest-growing Arab exporter of liquefied natural gas, according to a report released by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries in August. The report showed that Egypt exported around 1.4 million tons of LNG in the second quarter of 2021.

Egypt has 2.186 trillion cubic meters or 77.2 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, according to the US Energy Information Administration, placing it 16th in the world. These reserves are equivalent to around 1.6 billion tons of LNG.

(Reuters)/ Agencies