Israel cleared the way for imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) on 24 January when it inaugurated an offshore LNG receiving buoy 12km west of the northern port city of Hadera. The Submerged Tunnel Loading Buoy serves as a connection point for LNG imports regasified en route by specialized ships and will have a capacity to unload 1.5-2bn cu ms of gas per year directly to the national transmission system.
The buoy connects the LNG vessel to the national gas transportation system that is owned and operated by INGL (Israel Natural Gas Lines). The gas, bought from BP, is provided via a ship owned by Texas-based Excelerate Energy. IEC leased the regasification ship from Excelerate and is discussing, according to its CEO Eli Glickman, the possibility of leasing a second vessel in order to double the rate of the imported LNG until gas from Israel’s Tamar field flows into the national pipeline grid in April. (CONTINUED - 329 WORDS)
