TEL AVIV, Israel, April 1 (UPI) -- A group of energy companies working offshore Israel announced natural gas started flowing from the Tamar project in the Mediterranean Sea.
Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration announced that "natural gas began to flow from Tamar."
Delek said it was developing a balanced approach to the Tarmar and Leviathan gas fields, which have a total natural gas resource base of around 33 trillion cubic. The company says the fields, mostly in Israeli territory, combined are the largest natural gas finds made since 2000.
Delek didn't indicate the volume of gas that's been flowing from Tamar.
In March, its partners agreed on a budget for the project of $3.2 billion, up from a previous estimate of $3.1 billion.
Delek said gas from Tamar would be exploited using a floating liquefied natural gas facility in a way that doesn't affect the supply of natural gas to the Israeli market. The company in February signed a heads of agreement deal with Russian gas company Gazprom for the sale of 3 million tons per year of LNG from Tamar.
