Mar 03, 2026 (MarketLine via COMTEX) --
The decision follows Israeli Energy Ministry orders due to US-Israeli military actions against Iran and subsequent regional retaliation.
Chevron has announced force majeure at the Leviathan natural gas field in Israel following a government directive to halt operations due to security concerns.
This decision aligns with the Israeli Energy Ministry's instructions after joint US-Israeli military activities targeting Iran led to regional retaliatory actions.
Authorities have confirmed the suspension of gas production at Leviathan, citing security requirements as the basis for this action.
The Commissioner of Petroleum Affairs has been granted authority to provide additional operational guidance in response to changing security assessments.
Chevron has also received notification from the Commissioner to prepare for adaptable operations at Leviathan, which may include periodic production halts based on continuous evaluations of the security situation.
This marks the second disruption in less than a year linked to hostilities with Iran affecting gas flow in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Leviathan gas field is situated 1,645m underwater in the Levantine Basin, around 130km west of Haifa. It is located within the Rachel and Amit licences and spans an area of 330kmA.
It is said to be Israel's largest source of natural gas, and supplies gas to Israel, Egypt and Jordan.
During the first nine months of 2025, the Leviathan field delivered 8.1 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas to these markets, with more than half (4.8bcm) supplied to Egypt.
The current suspension recalls a similar incident when an escalation prompted Israel to pause operations at both the Leviathan and Karish fields, subsequently leading Egypt to reduce gas supplies to certain industries such as fertiliser manufacturing.
The consortium managing Leviathan recently approved a $2.3bn project aimed at increasing the fieldaEUR(TM)s capacity from approximately 12bcm annually to around 21bcm.
The field holds an estimated 22.9 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas and supports a $35bn export agreement with Egypt through 2040.
Chevron operates the Leviathan field with a 39.66% interest via Chevron Mediterranean, while NewMed Energy, part of Israel's Delek Group, holds a 45.34% stake and Ratio Energies 15%.
In a related development, Energean also said that it was instructed by the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure to halt production at the Energean Power floating production, storage and offloading unit at the Karish field.
Chevron Mediterranean recently awarded Hanwha Ocean the contract for module fabrication for the Leviathan Expansion Project.
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