The oil and gas company Energean has achieved first gas from the Karish North field located offshore Israel. The new project brought on stream is expected to boost output from the Karish field by 1.5 bcm/year and enable the gas capacity on the ‘Energean Power’ floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, to be used in full (8 bcm/year).
Energean started production from the Karish field offshore Israel in October 2022, with an initial capacity of 6.5 bcm/year. The installation of a second oil train and gas export riser, along with the first gas from Karish North, was originally expected by year-end 2023. According to Energean, the Karish North project and the second gas export riser are now online, debottlenecking the ‘Energean Power’ FPSO capacity to 8 bcm/year. Meanwhile, Energean has signed a new Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) with Eshkol Energies Generation (Dalia Energy) to supply 0.6 bcm/year of gas to the Eshkol power plant (previously owned and operated by the national power company IEC but now privatised), with gas supplies rising to 1 bcm/year as of 2032.
Energean also intends to develop the Katlan field off Israel, where a natural gas discovery of about 68 bcm was made in June 2023. Overall, Israel has total proved gas reserves of about 709 bcm (2022). The country produced nearly 22 bcm in 2022.