Israel reroutes gas exports to Egypt via Jordan

All Israeli gas pipeline exports to Egypt have been redirected via the FAJR gas pipeline that runs through Jordan, Chevron said late last night, after flows via the East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) pipeline halted.

Chevron shut down the 285bn m³ Tamar gas field, which also supplies Egypt with gas, on 9 October, on the instruction of the Israeli energy ministry. Islamist group Hamas launched an attack on Israel early on 7 October. But the larger 620bn m³ Leviathan offshore gas field appeared to remain operational as of this afternoon.

Israel has already used the Jordanian route to supply gas to Egypt in recent years. Deliveries via the country started in 2022 in an effort to bypass pipeline constraints within the Israeli transmission system at Ashkelon, which led to flows along the EMG pipeline being capped below the 5bn m³/yr capacity of the line. The port of Ashkelon was also closed yesterday.

Chevron had previously shut down production from the Tamar field on 12-21 May 2021. Gas deliveries to Egypt from Israel fell by 86mn m³ in May 2021 to 273mn m³ from a month earlier that year, and then rose again to 375mn m³ in June, according to data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (Jodi) (see table).

It remains unclear how much of an effect Tamar being off line could have on Egyptian imports, because the majority of Israeli gas for export is sourced from Leviathan. Egyptian import volumes from Israel have also doubled since 2021 (see imports graph).

Egypt exported its first LNG cargo since July on 6 October, as falling domestic output and increased domestic demand led to Egypt curbing use of gas for re-export as LNG.

By Ellie Holbrook

Egyptian gas imports from Israel