Tamar Gas to Begin Flowing Again This Week, Noble Says

The parts needed to repair a leak in the Tamar gas production facility are on their way to Israel, the Noble Energy-led partnership that operates the Tamar gas operation said over the weekend. A leak discovered on Thursday caused the flow of gas from the field to Israel to be turned off. Officials of the partnership expect that the facility will be repaired by the middle of the week.

Just in time, too; Israel has reserves of gas in storage to last through a week from Sunday. If gas does not begin flowing by then, the Israel Electric Company will have to use other materials to produce power. Damage to the partnership in lost sales, as well as to the state, which is losing money every day that royalties are not being paid, could total as much as $30 million by the time the facility is repaired.

In a statement, the partnership said that “in line with the directives, the flow of gas was shut off from the Tamar site. It should be noted that there is no danger to the environment due to the leak. After close observation and engineering evaluations, it was decided to turn off the gas flow. Work on repairs continues around the clock.”