Tamr gas field output rises 45% after $660 million-plus expansion

The daily maximum production capacity at Israel’s Tamar natural gas field has been increased from 1.1 billion cubic feet per day to 1.6 billion cubic feet per day, following an investment of more than $660 million. The development plan included laying about 150 kilometers of new pipeline from the Tamar field, roughly 90 kilometers west of Haifa, to the production platform off the coast of Ashkelon.

The new transmission line joins two existing lines. Chevron and Tamar Petroleum said the project is an important milestone toward boosting natural gas supply for Israel and for neighboring countries. The expansion also includes operating three compressors at the natural gas reception station in Ashdod, increasing system capacity and the pressure of gas flow in the transmission network.

Tamar is controlled by Isramco, with 28.7%, Chevron, 25%, Tamar Petroleum, 16.7%, Mubadala, 11%, Aaron Frenkel, 11%, Dor Gas, 4%, and Everest, 3.5%. Chevron’s Eastern Mediterranean general manager, Jack Baker, said, “Completion of the project allows us to respond to growing demand for reliable and competitively priced energy.”

Chevron said the Tamar expansion comes alongside the activation of the third transmission line in the Leviathan field project. That project laid a pipeline connecting the Leviathan field, about 120 kilometers west of Haifa, to the platform off Dor’s coast. Together, the Tamar and Leviathan expansions have raised Chevron’s combined production capacity from 2.4 billion cubic feet per day to 3.1 billion cubic feet per day.