Tamar

Tamar Natural Gas Field Profile

Location and Geology

• The Tamar natural gas field is located in the Levantine Basin of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, approximately 90 kilometers west of the port of Haifa, Israel. It falls under Licence Block 309, known as the Matan Block.
• The field is situated at a water depth of up to 1,700 meters and the reservoir layers are at a depth of around 5,000 meters below sea level.

Discovery and Development

• The Tamar field was discovered in January 2009 by the first appraisal well, Tamar-1, which identified three high-potential gas reservoirs. The discovery was significant, with initial estimates suggesting reserves of around 5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, later increased to 6.3 tcf with subsequent drilling.
• Production began in March 2013, with the field reaching full production capacity by the end of July 2013.

Reservoir and Reserves

• The Tamar reservoir is characterized by high porosity and permeability, with strong connectivity between different sections. It holds dry gas with a methane content of up to 99%.
• As of recent estimates, the Tamar field is believed to contain around 10.2 tcf of gas and 1 million barrels of condensate in 2P reserves, although other sources suggest reserves of up to 11.14 tcf or 315 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas.

Production and Infrastructure

• The field currently produces around 1.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) of natural gas. The production is facilitated through five subsea wells (Tamar-2 to Tamar-6) connected to the Tamar platform via 150 km long flowlines. Two subsea gathering pipelines carry gas from the subsea manifold to the platform.
• The Tamar platform, located in approximately 800 feet of water, is designed to process up to 1.2 bcf/d of natural gas. It has a four-deck structure and weighs nearly 10,000 tons.
• The produced gas is delivered to the Ashdod onshore terminal through a 30-inch export line for final treatment and then fed into the INGL national transmission system.

Partners and Operators

• The original operator of the field was Noble Energy, which was acquired by Chevron in 2020. Current partners include:
  • Chevron Mediterranean Limited (25%)
  • Isramco (28.75%)
  • Tamar Petroleum (16.75%)
  • Tamar Investment 1 RSC Limited (11%)
  • Tamar Investment 2 RSC Limited (11%)
  • Alon Natural Gas Exploration (4%)
  • Everest Infrastructure (3.5%).

Expansion and Optimization

• In December 2022, Chevron and its partners announced a Final Investment Decision (FID) for the first phase of a two-phased expansion. The first phase involves an investment of $673 million to add a third gathering pipeline from the subsea manifold to the Tamar production platform, which will increase the daily production capacity from 1.1 bcf to approximately 1.2 bcf. The second phase aims to further increase the production capacity to 1.6 bcf by leveraging existing, currently unused compressors.

Contractors and Suppliers

• Corinth Pipeworks has been awarded the contract for the deepwater Tamar optimizations project, including the supply of 20-inch longitudinally submerged arc welded steel pipes.
• Other contractors involved in the project include Alliance Engineering, Aker Solutions, EMAS AMC, and Allseas.

Commercial Agreements

• The Tamar field has several commercial agreements, including supply agreements with the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC), the Arab Potash Company, the Jordan Bromine Company, and other domestic and international markets such as Jordan and Egypt.

Future Developments

• The ongoing expansion project is expected to be completed in early 2025, with the aim of meeting growing domestic demand in Israel and boosting supplies to neighboring countries.