Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is threatening to derail a $35bn mega gas deal, announced on 7 August, under which Israel would supply Egypt with an extra 130bcm of gas from the Chevron-operated 1.2bn cfd Leviathan gas field (MEES, 8 August). Unhappy with Egypt’s military build-up in the Sinai and Cairo’s vocal opposition to Israel’s offensive in Gaza, Mr Netanyahu has chosen to freeze the deal, Israeli daily Hayom reported on 3 September.
Chevron (39.66%) and its 45.34% Leviathan partner NewMed Energy chose not to comment on the reports. MEES understands the companies believe Mr Netanyahu is simply unhappy that he was not involved in the deal, and are quietly confident it will be approved. (CONTINUED - 1309 WORDS)
