Major new gas deposit discovered off Israeli coast

Drilling project reveals 13 billion cubic meters of natural gas in ‘Zeus’ gas field off Israel’s Mediterranean coast.

By World Israel News Staff

An exploratory drilling project off the western coast of Israel has revealed another major natural gas field, near several other known natural gas deposits.

The UK-based Energean PLC reported Monday that it has discovered natural gas in the “Zeus” exploration well northwest of Haifa.

The Zeus gas deposit, located between the recently discovered Athena gas field and the Tanin and Tamar fields, is estimated to contain some 13.3 billion cubic meters of gas, higher than the pre-drilling estimates. The finding is still a preliminary assessment, however, and could change following further analysis.

Energean also said Monday that the drilling revealed that the neighboring Athena gas field is larger than the previous estimate suggested.

First found this May, the Athena natural gas deposit was, prior to drilling, originally estimated to contain some 21 billion cubic meters of gas, though that projection was later reduced to just 8 billion cubic meters after the May drilling operation.

On Monday, however, Energean revealed that its reserve auditor DeGolyer & MacNaughton has upgraded the estimate to 11.75 billion cubic meters, following additional data analysis.

The discoveries boosted Energean’s stock value by 4% Monday morning, to their highest level since 2018.

The Athena and Zeus deposits, part of a larger natural gas area dubbed by Energean as “Olympus,” could be linked to the existing natural gas production and storage infrastructure set up in Karish gas field.