The company is continuing operations at its second gas field, Leviathan, in the country

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The Tamar field has been in production since 2013.(Credit: Zachary Theodore on Unsplash)

US oil and gas company Chevron has shut down the Tamar gas field offshore Israel, following an instruction from the country’s energy ministry.

The ministry’s instructions comes in the wake of a flare up in violence in the region, as hostilities increase between Israel and the Gaza-ruling terror group.

Chevron was quoted by Reuters as saying: “In accordance with instructions received from the Ministry of Energy, we have shut-in and depressurised the Tamar Platform.”

Located at nearly 90km west of Haifa, a northern Israeli port city, the Tamar gas field is key source of natural gas for the domestic market. The field is located at an overall depth of about 5,000 metres below sea level.

Discovered in 2009, the field has been in production since 2013.

With a stake of 25%, Chevron is the operator of the Tamar gas field, which produced a total of 8.2 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas in 2020.

Chevron’s partners in the field include Delek Drilling, Isramco, Tamar Petroleum, Dor Gas and Everest.

The company is continuing operations at its second gas field, Leviathan, in the country.

The Israeli ministry stated Leviathan will be able to increase supplies to meet the country’s energy needs despite the closing of the Tamar gas field.

According to Israeli energy company Delek Drilling, the Leviathan field produced an average of 7.3bcm in 2020.

Discovered in 2010, Leviathan is located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea area off the coast of Israel.

The field is estimated to have recoverable resources of 22 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas from 35Tcf of in-place resource.

In April, Delek signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mubadala Petroleum to sell its stake of 22% in the Tamar gas field for up to $1.1bn.