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Following this weekend’s attack by Hamas on Israel, Chevron, the operator of the Tamar gas field offshore southern Israel, has shut down production at the field per instructions from the Israeli energy ministry.
“Chevron Mediterranean Limited was instructed by Israel’s Ministry of Energy to shut in production at the Tamar Production Platform,” the local unit of the U.S. supermajor said in a statement carried by Reuters.
Chevron Mediterranean Limited operates Tamar and has a 25% stake in the field, alongside Isramco (28.75%), Tamar Petroleum (16.75%), Mubadala Energy (11%), Tamar Investment 2 (11%), Dor Gas (4%), and Everest (3.5%).
At Tamar, six production wells produce volumes of natural gas ranging from 7.1 to 8.5 million cubic meters per day each. Most of the natural gas processing takes place on the Tamar platform situated 24 kilometers (15 miles) west of Ashkelon. Tamar supplies 70% of Israel’s energy consumption needs for electricity generation, Chevron says.
Chevron has an interest in another gas field offshore Israel, the Leviathan gas field, the biggest energy project in Israel ever, after it bought Noble Energy.
While Tamar was ordered shut after the Hamas attack on Israel, the giant Leviathan field continues to operate normally, Chevron said on Monday.
After the shutdown of the Tamar field, Israel will seek alternative sources to meet its energy needs, the Israeli energy ministry said.
Following the surprise attack on Saturday, Israel declared war on Hamas and began retaliation on the Gaza Strip, while cutting off power supply to the Palestinian territories.
The weekend attack on Israel and the continued fighting between Hamas and Israel sent oil prices jumping by $4 a barrel early in Asian trade on Monday.
The price surge follows the biggest attack on Israel in years, after in the early hours of Saturday Hamas fighters entered the country by land, sea, and even air, and attacked Israeli towns.