The Jerusalem Post reports on a shortage of natural gas in Israel.
Due to the country’s looming natural gas shortages, the Israel Electric Corporation is considering renovating its Reading power station in Tel Aviv so that it can also operate on mazut heavy fuel oil.
Reading is Israel’s only power station that does not yet have the ability to run on dual fuel sources, according to Iris Ben-Shahal, deputy spokeswoman for the IEC.
The IEC is struggling to find ways to power the nation this summer. The corporation is only receiving 30 percent of what it should be receiving from the Yam Tethys reservoir and the gas supply from Egypt completely ceased, Ben-Shahal told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
“There is not enough gas to produce electricity,” she said. “We are trying to do all our best so we can produce enough electricity for our citizens.”
One potential solution to keep Reading up-and-running during the summer peak hours is to add a heavy fuel oil base to its electricity production capabilities, even though it is a polluting fossil fuel.
In the face of all that there are some Israeli protesters dressed like Playboy Bunnies who are working to prevent exploitation of shale oil resources. But there were only about 100 of them. So other than the costumes the demo was of little interest.
Comments
3 responses to “A Harbinger Of War”
How long would it take for Israel to build an LNG terminal and convert power plants over? We certainly have enough surplus product here for them.
Tamar and Leviathan fields offshore, Shefla shale deposits on shore. The resources have been found. On the other hand don’t count the bunny brains out. They have very influential friends.
Israel has just hit a bonanza in shale oil and gas. It will be a while before production comes on line. Engineering wise you can bet that the plan devised was probably the best (or close to it) option given all the factors.
The thing is – shale oil and gas have totally transformed the liquid fuel and gas markets.
And thus more and more people are willing to write off the Middle East as a lost cause. And keep those crazy people away.