Israel restarts limited gas exports amid ongoing conflict, Egypt still waiting

CAIRO, June 19 (Reuters) - Israel has resumed limited natural gas exports from surplus supplies, the country's Energy Ministry said on Thursday, nearly a week after shutting down two key offshore fields as Israel and Iran waged an air battle.

A ministry spokesperson told Reuters that exports are now resuming "from surpluses, after domestic needs are met."

An energy ministry source said most of the limited exported gas is currently flowing to Jordan, and only "tiny volumes" reached Egypt this week.

Egyptian fertilizer producers, who were forced to halt operations due to the supply disruption, told Reuters they have yet to receive any gas but expect flows to resume next week.

The Egyptian Petroleum Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Following military escalation in the region, Israel halted exports on June 13 after closing the Leviathan field, operated by Chevron and the Karish field operated by Energean. Only the Tamar field has remained operational, supplying mainly domestic demand.

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said on Wednesday that exports would only resume once military authorities deemed it safe.

"I don't want to use our strategic storage, so therefore, I needed to cut exports," he told Reuters.

Egypt, which has increasingly relied on Israeli gas since a domestic production decline in 2022, is scrambling to compensate for the supply gap. The country has ramped up fuel oil use in power plants and has signed deals to import over $8 billion worth of liquefied natural gas, while preparing additional floating regasification units.

Israeli gas typically accounts for up to 60% of Egypt's total gas imports and around a fifth of its total consumption, according to data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI). (Reporting by Mohamed Ezz and Steven Scheer; Editing by David Gregorio)

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