Chevron Mediterranean Receives Green Light to Restore Production at Leviathan Gas Field

Chevron Mediterranean, a subsidiary of the U.S.-headquartered Chevron, has received approval to resume production from its giant natural gas field off the coast of Israel. This development comes amidst the recent Israel-Iran ceasefire deal brokered by the United States in the Middle East.

Following the escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran, both countries were compelled to halt operations at some of their energy assets. Israel’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructures issued a security recommendation to suspend gas production at the Leviathan reservoir, prompting Chevron to cease operations at the Leviathan platform.

However, with the intervention of the U.S. to facilitate a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, Israel’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure has instructed the safe resumption of production at Energean’s FPSO Energean Power at the Karish field, as well as the restart of operations at the Leviathan platform.

As a result, Chevron and its partners, NewMed Energy and Ratio Energies, are working to restart the Leviathan platform and resume regular production from the reservoir. Plans are also underway to expand the infrastructure to include a floating LNG facility, expected to produce 4.6 million tons of LNG annually.

The temporary production halt at Leviathan resulted in a significant loss of income for the partners, amounting to nearly $38.8 million. The partners have invoked the force majeure clause in their gas sale agreements and are exploring the possibility of receiving compensation from the state for the halted production.

The Leviathan expansion and the future FLNG facility are crucial for potential LNG deliveries to Germany under a memorandum of understanding signed between NewMed and Uniper. Located off the shores of Haifa, Leviathan is Israel’s largest natural gas reservoir, with an estimated 22.9 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas.