Chevron Mediterranean, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Chevron, has pushed back the completion of a third subsea pipeline for the Leviathan natural gas field expansion project off Israel's coast to 2025. The delay follows a pause in planned activities due to the recent Israel-Gaza conflict.

The pipeline project is part of a larger expansion aimed at boosting gas production capacity from the Mediterranean field. Two months ago, Chevron and its Leviathan partners, NewMed Energy, and Ratio Energies, approved a $429 million investment to begin front-end engineering design for the proposed increase to 21 billion cubic meters of gas (bcm) per year.

Currently, the Leviathan field produces approximately 12 bcm annually. The now-delayed pipeline, budgeted at roughly $568 million, is expected to raise daily production capacity to about 1.4 billion cubic feet (bcf), or 14 bcm per year, starting in 2026.

Chevron informed its partners it expects the pipeline to be completed by the end of 2025. Further production increases are anticipated with Phase 1B of the Leviathan project, for which a final investment decision may come in the coming months.

NewMed highlighted ongoing negotiations with potential customers in both domestic and export markets for gas sales agreements under Phase 1B, totaling over 100 bcm, according to a letter from the Petroleum Commissioner at the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.

Phase B also includes a liquefied natural gas (LNG) component, with a floating LNG facility planned to produce 4.6 million tons of LNG annually. This expansion will allow Leviathan to target customers in Europe and the Far East, potentially including LNG deliveries to Germany, under a memorandum of understanding between NewMed and Uniper.

Located about 130 kilometers off Haifa, Leviathan is the largest natural gas reservoir in the Mediterranean and Israel’s largest energy project, holding an estimated 22.9 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas. 

The field, consisting of four subsea wells and two 120-kilometer pipelines, began production in 2019, supplying gas to Israel, Egypt, and Jordan. The next stage of the Leviathan project was previously anticipated to start between mid-2028 and mid-2029.