Tamar Raises Output 45% and Overtakes Leviathan in Daily Gas Production

The Tamar gas reservoir has sharply increased production by about 45%, and is now expected to reach roughly 16 BCM a year, slightly above Leviathan’s recent expanded output of 15.8 BCM a year. For the first time, Tamar is producing at a faster rate than the larger Leviathan field. Tamar Petroleum and Isramco shares rose in Tel Aviv trading after the announcement.

The $664 million expansion included laying a third gas pipeline from the offshore reservoir to the Ashdod production platform, a distance of 150 kilometers, and upgrading compressors at the processing facility. Chevron, the operator of Tamar and also of Leviathan, carried out the project. The work continued during the recent confrontation with Iran, even while international contractors kept working and Tamar was the only gas field still supplying Israel, after the Energy Ministry ordered Leviathan and Karish to stop production for more than a month.

The added capacity is meant to give Israel more flexibility in a wartime emergency, reducing the need to rely on coal and diesel. According to the Energy Authority’s 2025 report, Tamar supplies 47% of the gas used by power plants and local industry, followed by Karish at 41%, while Leviathan supplies 12%. In exports, however, Leviathan accounts for 74% of shipments, mainly to Egypt and the rest to Jordan, while Tamar provides 26%.

The two fields are also competing for long-term power plant contracts as several new gas-fired stations are planned in Israel. OPC is expected to build a plant in Hadera and has not yet signed a gas deal, while Doral and Reindeer are competing for another grid slot and also need contracts soon. Leviathan has already exceeded expectations after its own expansion, and its cheap domestic sales under its export agreement with the state intensify the competition with Tamar. Tamar also has an export contract with Egypt and is expected to raise exports once the new gas pipeline to Egypt at Nitzana is completed; the project is now under construction after the fields recently funded their share.