Having previously indicated that a decision on Phase-2 expansion of Israel’s giant 22.7tcf Leviathan field from 1.2bn cfd to either 2.1 or 2.4bn cfd would happen by mid-2023 (MEES, 24 June), partners at the field are now indicating that they will choose between tie-back to Egypt and FLNG by the end of 2022 – that is to say within the next four months.

Speaking at the Barclays CEO Energy-Power Conference on 7 September, Michael Wirth, CEO of Leviathan operator Chevron (39.66%) links the increased sense of urgency to the war in Ukraine and Europe’s desire to wean itself off Russian gas (see box). “Europe’s going to need LNG in the mix in a way that historically they may not have.” The key way to meet this is “expansion” of its Israel output to “potentially serve Europe probably through liquified natural gas,” he says. (CONTINUED - 1915 WORDS)