JERUSALEM, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A consortium managing the Tamar natural gas field off the Israeli coast plans to sign a major supply agreement estimated at $3 billion, an industry leader said.
The Tamar consortium -- Alon Gas Exploration, Avner Oil and Gas, Delek Drilling and Noble Energy -- aims to sign a deal with kibbutz-owned Dalia Power Energies for deliveries of as much as 49 billion cubic feet of gas for the next 19 years, industry leaders told the Platts news service.
"The agreement has been finalized and now just has to be approved by the Dalia Energy board of directors," a source confirmed. The deal is valued at around $3 billion.
Dalia aims to build an 870-megawatt plant that would be one of the largest private power plants in Israel. It's expected to go online in 2015. Production at the offshore Tamar field is expected to begin in late 2013.
Major natural gas discoveries at the Tamar and Leviathan offshore fields have redefined the Israeli energy sector. Israel gets some of its electricity from gas supplied through sabotage-vulnerable Egyptian pipelines, though officials have said the country must find ways to become self-sufficient in energy.
Lebanon contends that a portion of Leviathan lies within its maritime borders.
