KEY POINTS
- Chevron declared force majeure at the Leviathan gas field after Israel’s Energy Ministry ordered operations suspended on security grounds following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
- Leviathan supplies gas to Israel, Egypt and Jordan, with Egypt receiving more than half of the field’s output, about 4.8 billion cubic meters, in the first nine months of 2025.
- Chevron and its partners recently approved a $2.36 billion expansion in January 2026.
The shutdown of Leviathan, Israel’s largest offshore gas field, marks the second time in less than a year that fighting with Iran has knocked out a critical artery of Eastern Mediterranean energy supply.
Chevron declared force majeure at the field over the weekend. The Israeli government ordered the halt. And the consequences are already rippling outward.
Israel’s Energy Ministry instructed Chevron, which operates the field, to suspend operations after joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes on Iran triggered retaliatory action across the region
Israel’s petroleum affairs commissioner separately ordered the Leviathan partners to prepare for flexible operating procedures, a policy that may include periodic production halts tied to ongoing security assessments.
A Field That Three Countries Depend On
The Leviathan gas field sits roughly 130 kilometers west of Haifa in the Levantine Basin, in waters about 1,500 meters deep. It is not just Israel’s biggest gas field.It is a regional lifeline.
In the first nine months of 2025, Leviathan sold 8.1 billion cubic meters of gas to Israel, Egypt and Jordan combined, with Egypt accounting for more than half at 4.8 billion cubic meters.
With the full field offline, daily gas production losses could reach 1.16 billion cubic feet per day, hitting domestic Israeli power generation and exports hard. Combined with shutdowns at Karish and the Tamar field, also operated by Chevron, total halted gas exports to Egypt alone amount to around 1.1 billion cubic feet per day.
