BP said on Tuesday that it will supply Israel Electric Corporation with liquefied natural gas. The British energy company declined to give details, but a source with knowledge of the deal said it will deliver two cargoes a month from December until May 2013.
Israel launched a tender to secure supplies after Egypt terminated a crucial 20-year gas supply deal in April.
BP beat off stiff competition from rival bidders including Russian gas giant Gazprom to secure the deal, critical to plugging a short-term gap in Israeli gas supplies.
Without Egyptian gas and with the country's sole working gas field nearly depleted, IEC is turning to LNG imports as a stopgap until the first of its gas discoveries in offshore waters are brought to market from next year.
The source said BP will deliver two cargoes per month over six months starting on December 1 to Israel's floating LNG import terminal, which is due to be completed in November.
Cargoes of the liquefied fuel will be turned back into gas on board a floating storage and regasification unit owned by Excelerate Energy, and injected into subsea pipelines headed for Israel's gas grid.
State-owned Israel Natural Gas Lines expects construction of the terminal to be completed by November after signing a 140-million-euro construction deal last October with Italian firm Micoperi.
"BP will be supplying Israel with two cargoes per month from December," the source, whose company is involved in the deal, told Reuters.
Egypt terminated its agreement to supply gas to Israel because of what it said was a business dispute. The gas once accounted for about 40% of Israel's supplies of natural gas.
Newly discovered reserves from huge offshore gas fields will secure Israel's energy needs for decades, but the first field, Tamar, will only come on line around April 2013. The even larger Leviathan prospect is due to begin production around 2017.
