The 65-kilometer pipeline, expected to be completed in 2028, will transport natural gas from Israel to Egypt and carry at least 600 million cubic feet of gas per day, potentially boosting Israel’s export capacity to Egypt to more than 2.2 billion cubic feet per day.
Expanding Leviathan’s regional footprint
The Nitzana pipeline is part of a broader strategy to diversify Israeli gas exports, ease Egypt’s energy crisis, and strengthen regional energy partnerships despite attempts to isolate Israel.
Chevron’s Jack Baker, managing director of its Eastern Mediterranean Business Unit, said the project would “deliver substantial domestic economic benefits and support energy security across the Eastern Mediterranean.”
Leviathan, one of the world’s largest deep-water gas discoveries, contains an estimated 600 billion cubic meters of gas, located about 120 kilometers west of Haifa at a depth of 1.7 kilometers.
Chevron holds a 39.66 percent stake in the project, alongside Israel’s NewMed Energy. NewMed CEO Yossi Abu described Leviathan as “a national project” that would anchor Israel’s energy security for decades while unlocking billions of dollars in potential investments.
Both Israel and Egypt have emerged as significant gas exporters in recent years following major offshore discoveries. Israeli gas now meets 15–20 percent of Egypt’s consumption, according to the Joint Organisations Data Initiative.
In August, Leviathan partners signed a $35 billion agreement to supply gas to Egypt, Israel’s largest export contract to date.
Rising revenues, rising risks
Despite the ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza, Israel’s gas exports to Egypt and Jordan rose more than 13 percent in 2024, accounting for nearly half of the country’s production. Revenue from royalties hit a record NIS 2.37 billion ($713 million) that year.
In 2022, Israel, Egypt, and the European Union signed a memorandum of understanding allowing Israeli gas to reach Europe via Egypt’s LNG plants, further broadening export routes.
But the announcement of the Nitzana pipeline coincides with a report from the United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluding that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, a finding Israel dismissed as “scandalous” and “fake.”
The ruling has heightened geopolitical risks, with some countries reportedly reconsidering contracts with Israeli firms, underscoring the uncertain political backdrop against which the project is unfolding.
