The partners in the Leviathan field off Israel's Mediterranean coast are considering building a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility to enable LNG exports, Delek Drilling said on Tuesday.
Leviathan, discovered in 2010 roughly 130 kilometers (81 miles) west of Haifa, holds an estimated 22 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas. The field is one of the world's largest offshore discovery of the past decade.
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The partners, which include the Delek Group and Noble Energy, signed agreements with Golar LNG Ltd and Exmar NV to receive plans for an FLNG facility. The aim is to enter into a long-term agreement with one that will finance, build, operate and maintain the facility if a final decision is made to go ahead with the project.
The facility will allow liquefaction of natural gas at a capacity of 2.4-5 million tons per year.
According to the plan being examined, processed natural gas will be piped from the Leviathan production platform to the FLNG facility which will be located offshore Israel, where the gas will be liquefied and transferred to LNG vessels.
"Liquefying the natural gas from Leviathan will enable us to transport it worldwide, thus reaching new export markets, mainly in Europe and in Asia," Delek Drilling CEO Yossi Abu said.
