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Israeli Gas Is Almost Ashore, But Challenges Remain
(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Simon Henderson - Israel's Tamar offshore gas field contains 10 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas. It provides 60% of Israel's electricity and will do so for many years. The new Leviathan gas field contains more than 22 tcf and will enable Israel to become a gas exporter. Engineers are working on a line that will cross into Jordan and generate most of the kingdom's electricity from 2020. It will use the right of way established by the old oil pipeline from Kirkuk, Iraq, to Haifa, which exported Iraqi oil between 1935 and 1948. It is the reason why a refinery, now Israel's biggest, was built in Haifa. Once in Jordan, the gas could connect with the old Arab Gas Pipeline to reach Egypt through the Sinai Peninsula. The writer is director of the Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at The Washington Institute.