Israel's Leviathan Gas Field Partners set for talks to supply BG in Egypt

Partners in Israel’s Leviathan offshore natural gas field signed a letter of intent to hold talks with a subsidiary of BG Group Plc (BG/) about supplying the company’s gas-liquefying plant in Egypt.

The letter sets out terms of a final accord, including the sale of 7 billion cubic meters of gas a year for 15 years at a price to be determined, the partners said today. Gas would be supplied at the Leviathan platform and delivered by pipeline to BG International (NSW) Ltd.’s plant at Idku, Egypt, according to a filing that Ratio Oil Exploration 1992 LP and two units of Delek Group Ltd. made to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

The 2010 discovery of Leviathan, coming after the nearby Tamar find, is proving a bonanza for Israel, which expects the gas to meet its needs for a quarter of a century and also enable it to sell to other countries. Egypt formerly supplied gas to Israel until repeated sabotage of a pipeline in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula led the Arab nation to cancel the exports in 2012.