Israel mulls bumping up LNG exports from Egypt. Israel’s Delek Drilling will decide this year whether to expand its natural gas exports via Egypt’s LNG terminal or through a floating terminal, CEO Yossi Abu said, according to Reuters. Delek’s options on the table are either using the Idku LNG plant in Egypt to develop the Aphrodite gas field off Cyprus alongside their partner, Shell, or to build its own floating LNG terminal near Leviathan off Israel’s Mediterranean coast. The drilling company is currently in talks with banks to secure long-term funding of USD 2.5 bn through bank financing or bonds. Leviathan’s offshore gas field came online last month and has started to supply Egypt and Jordan.

Contrary to earlier reports in the Israeli press, the Egypt-Israel natural gas pipeline was not the subject of an attack earlier this week. Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and Leviathan gas field’s corporate partners both said that there has not been any damage to the EMG pipeline that runs between Ashkelon and El Arish, and that gas flow has continued normally, according to the Times of Israel, putting to earlier reports. A separate report from the Associated Press suggests that terrorists attacked a natural gas line running to a cement plant in North Sinai.