Israel’s Delek Drilling, one of the partners in the Noble Energy-operated deepwater Leviathan gas field, has indicated that the scale of the recoverable reserves is larger than first believed.

Data from a new reserves study prepared by consultants Netherland Sewell and Associates suggests that the field in the eastern Mediterranean offshore Israel could be up to 10% greater than previous resource estimates. According to Delek, the NSA report “...constitutes a significant increase in the scope of natural gas and condensate assets in the Leviathan natural gas field, as compared to the previous resource report”.

NSA’s report suggests that the low estimate of recoverable reserves has risen 11% to 16.58 Tcf from 14.89 Tcf previously. Best estimate reserves have increased by 16% to 21.93 Tcf from 18.91 Tcf, while the high estimate is up 10% to 26.52 Tcf from 24.14 Tcf.

Explaining the rise, Delek said: “This increase in resource amounts is attributable to a quantitative and qualitative improvement of the database for the Leviathan natural gas reservoir, attributable, among other things, to reprocessing and reanalysis of the 3-D seismic surveys, and a series of lab tests on reservoir rock and liquids, including routine and special core analysis.”

Leviathan is targeted for initial production starting as soon as 2017. One option under consider­ation is a fixed or floating 800 MMcf/d gas processing facility with an estimated US $2.9 billion gross investment; a 500-800 MMcf/d (3.2- 4.8 MM tonnes per annum) floating LNG facility involving $1 billion of investment, while another is a 1.6?Bcf/d gas FPSO representing $4.6 billion in Capex.

Several initial pipeline export options have been identified, taking Leviathan gas either to Vasilikos in Cyprus, to Israel, Lebanon, or to existing LNG plants in Egypt.

Pre-FEED studies have already confirmed the technical and commercial viability of 2.25 mtpa and 4.8 mtpa FLNG units, and FEED tendering was progressing with strong market interest, Noble has previously reported.

Offshore