Israel’s state electric company, IEC, has launched a request for proposals for “an estimated” 2bcm/y of gas from the partners in the country’s two biggest offshore discoveries, the 10tcf Tamar field which currently produces 1bn cfd, and 22tcf Leviathan. The start-date of the supply will be October 2019 or start-up of the Leviathan project (slated for end-2019) “whichever is later” until end-June 2021 “or the date of commencement of the production of gas” from the 1.8tcf Karish field “whichever is earlier.” Karish, operated by Greek firm Energean, is slated to start up in 1Q 2021 (MEES, 30 March).
Gas is rapidly edging out coal from the Israel energy mix. The gas share has soared to 80% gas versus 64.2% for 2017 (coal 32.3%, renewables 2.6%). (CONTINUED - 162 WORDS)