Delek Drilling and Noble Energy, the companies developing the huge natural gas field Leviathan, will begin production on Tuesday after receiving approval from Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry.
Leviathan was supposed to begin operations on Dec. 24, but the ministry, which monitors emissions from the project, said it needed extra data from the energy companies running the field and would postpone production.
Delek Drilling, which is leading the project with Texas-based Noble Energy, said in a statement that it had received approval from the ministry and will begin gas production on Dec. 31.
Leviathan production was delayed earlier this month for a couple of days until a court lifted a temporary injunction that had been granted over environmental concerns.
Rescinding the injunction, the Jerusalem District Court said appellants had not provided sufficient evidence that Leviathan's emissions, in its start-up phase, could prove dangerous. It also cited reassurances provided by government representatives as to precautions taken at the site.
Leviathan was discovered in 2010 about 120 km off Israel's coast. But its towering production platform was constructed much closer to shore - just 10 km away.
Environmental activists and municipalities located near where the pipeline comes ashore had tried unsuccessfully - including at the country's Supreme Court - to block the plan and force it to be built further out at sea.
The Leviathan partners are now waiting to open the wells and fill the subsea pipeline with natural gas, a process that sends emissions into the air.
The latest petition to halt the process was brought by several municipalities and an environmental group against the project's operator, Noble, and Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry.
