With the beginning of the events that broke out in Jerusalem, and with the first bursts of resistance rockets from the Gaza Strip;
A few hours after the resistance missiles penetrated the Iron Dome, Israel ordered the American Chevron Company to close the production platform of the Tamar field, which is located northwest of the Gaza Strip by only 25 kilometers, to stop the production of the Tamar field, the main source of natural gas for the Israeli domestic market since Wednesday 12 May. This May, and indefinitely.
Chevron owns 25% of the Tamar field, and is currently managing the field, where production takes place from 5 wells, and the gas flows through a pipeline that extends for a distance of 140 km, reaching the gas processing and production platform near the port of Ashkelon, from which gas is distributed to the Israeli market or part of it is exported. To Egypt and Jordan.
The American energy giant "Chevron" had acquired Noble Energy for months, one of the main partners in the Tamar and Leviathan fields. Chevron became the main investor in the largest Israeli gas fields. The acquisition process remained suspended for many months for several reasons, the most important of which was Chevron's fear of two main things: The first is the size of the huge reserves that Israel possesses of natural gas, which there are no multiple routes for exporting, as exports are currently only done through the Arish-Ashkelon line according to the gas deal. With Egypt, and also through internal lines that carry gas to Jordan, which are in very limited quantities compared to the huge reserves of the Tamar and Leviathan fields.
The second matter is the fear regarding the security dimension and the threats that could affect the infrastructure of the Israeli gas fields in the Mediterranean waters, and in fact, it was only a few months after the acquisition deal that one of Chevron's main concerns was fulfilled, and the company closed the Tamar field production platform for an indefinite period.
It is important to recall the influence of Chevron in US administrations and its intersection with US foreign policy in many files, especially in the oil and gas-rich Middle East region. It suffices to point out only that former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was a member of Chevron’s board of directors, as well as an advisor National Security for Obama James Jones, who was also a member of the Chevron Corporation; This means that the list of common US interests with Israel will be added to the entry of one of the largest US oil and gas companies into the natural gas equation in the Eastern Mediterranean and Israel with an acquisition deal worth $ 11.8 billion, and this in turn will lead to more American biases in favor of Israel.
Israeli fear of resistance missiles reaching any of the natural gas platforms in the Mediterranean waters can give us a simplified explanation of Israeli behavior in the eastern Mediterranean, and Israel’s keenness, despite the huge natural gas reserves it possesses, not to establish platforms for liquefying natural gas, either on its coasts or in the waters, due to The security consideration that comes first in Israeli politics and in advance of economic gains, as Israel fears that natural gas liquefaction platforms will fall under the constant threat of resistance missiles, and this is the main reason that made Israel prefer to export natural gas by selling it to Egypt and then liquefying it in Egyptian liquefaction stations And exporting it abroad, and also the main reason behind Israel's constant pursuit of establishing the EastMed pipeline to transport gas from its fields and the fields of Cyprus to Europe.
Israel is currently compensating for the shortfall resulting from the closure of the Tamar field by increasing supplies from the Leviathan field, and placing a natural gas storage vessel off its coasts in anticipation of emergency conditions, as the approach of resistance missiles to the production platform of the Leviathan field will mean the inevitability of closing the field, which will lead to an unprecedented disaster. Israeli energy security has been severely damaged, but the approach of resistance missiles to the Leviathan field production platform remains far from reality, as the platform is located in the far north of Israel, near the Haifa port and southern Lebanon.
On the other hand, it is important to note that the resistance missiles, after closing the Tamar field, will cause economic losses not few:
The Tamar field produces about 8.2 billion cubic meters (according to the production data for the year 2020), and this means that the daily production rate of the Tamar field is close to 25 million cubic meters (approximately equivalent to a trillion thermal units), meaning that the daily losses due to the stoppage of the Tamar field will not decrease In any case, about 6 million dollars, as the prices of gas produced from the Tamar field are estimated at 6.3 dollars per million thermal units, which are the prices for the local market (Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) purchases gas from the Tamar field according to the prices. Naturally, the export prices will be equal to or greater than the domestic price.
It will disrupt - and possibly cancel - the purchase of the Emirati Mubadala Petroleum Company (a government company affiliated with the Mubadala Investment Company, headed by the Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed) of the Israeli Delek stake in the Tamar field, a deal that was supposed to reach its final stages in At the end of May, the deal is valued at $ 1.1 billion, representing the culmination of cooperation and normalization between Israel and the UAE. It will be difficult for the UAE company Mubadala to proceed with a deal that has not been officially announced due to the sensitivity of this type of deal, especially after the Tamar field stopped production, and after the recent Israeli aggression and the crimes it committed, which made the paths of normalization and deals with Israel unacceptable to the people more than Ever.
It also appears that the global bid that Israel would put up at the end of this May - which is the largest in the history of Israel for oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean waters, through which it sought to attract international companies to the Israeli energy sector - will be difficult to put forward at that time, and it will be Israel must make huge marketing efforts to persuade international companies to invest and spend millions of dollars to explore and drill in areas very close to the Tamar field production platform, which has been disrupted by the resistance missiles. This directly means that the bidding, which Israel was hoping to attract investments worth billions of dollars, will be suspended for not a short time, and its results may be unsatisfactory if Israel announces it in the near future Due to the reluctance of international companies to invest in unstable and insecure areas.
Finally, it seems that a quick look at the effects caused by the rockets of the Palestinian resistance on the Israeli energy sector, which led to not few economic losses; With it, it is possible to know and evaluate the impact of these missiles in the conflict with Israel, whose feasibility will be difficult to assess only in terms of their destructive ability at a time when Israel loses its progress in the race for influence in the Eastern Mediterranean, a loss that goes beyond the economic dimension and affects the strategic and political dimensions.