Israeli company announces $15B export deal with Egypt

An Israeli energy company on Monday announced a $15 billion deal to supply natural gas to Egypt, in the largest export agreement to date for Israel’s nascent natural gas industry.

Delek Drilling and its U.S. partner, Noble Energy, signed a deal to sell a total of 64 billion cubic meters of gas over a 10-year period to Egyptian company Dolphinus Holdings.

Yossi Abu, chief executive of Delek Drilling, called the deal “great news” for both countries.

He said he expects most of the gas to be used for Egypt’s domestic market, but predicted it could pave the way for wider cooperation and help turn Egypt into an export hub for Israeli gas.

“I think that the main thing is that Egypt is becoming the real gas hub of the region,” he said.

Gary Willingham, Noble Energy’s executive vice president of operations, said “these agreements continue to demonstrate the strength of the regional market for our natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean,”

Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, in 1979, but past economic agreements have been controversial in Egypt, where support for the Palestinians runs high. There was no immediate comment from Egyptian officials.

The gas will be delivered from Israel’s Tamar gas field, which is already operational, and the larger “Leviathan” field, which is set to go online in late 2019. The gas is expected to begin flowing late next year.

Several routes for shipping the gas are under consideration, with an existing pipeline between Jordan and Egypt a strong contender, Abu said. Israel already delivers gas to Jordan.

— The Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel says it has successfully tested the country’s advanced missile defense system capable of defending against ballistic missile threats outside the atmosphere.

The Defense Ministry says Monday’s successful mission test of the Arrow-3 interceptor is “a major milestone” in Israel’s ability to defend itself “against current and future threats in the region.” Two previous tests of the system were recently called off.

Arrow-3 is part of the multi-layered system Israel is developing to defend against both short- and mid-range rockets fired from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, as well as Iran’s long-range missiles. It includes Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and the Arrow-2 systems.

It was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and U.S. aviation giant Boeing, and became operational in January 2017.

Israel has already deployed Arrow to counter Syrian missiles.