The Ministry of Environmental Protection has authorized Noble Energy to conduct a second streaming for the Leviathan natural gas platform next Monday. In the second test, two more gas wells will be opened and their production sent back in the direction of the platform through a second gas pipeline. The Ministry of Environmental Protection says that in the second stage of streaming, the effect on the air quality on the coast opposite the platform will probably be lower, and there is therefore no need to evacuate residents, nor for any special instructions to the public. According to the ministry's figures, only 5% of the benzene and 15-20% of the methane and organic compounds that should have been emitted into the atmosphere were in fact emitted, so the streaming was carried out only partially.
At the same time, yesterday, a day after the first streaming, the Shomrei Habayit (Homeland Guards) organization asserted that starting at 12 noon, its thermal gas camera detected cold gas emissions (apparently nitrogen) from the torch end of the Leviathan platform. They say that these were significant emissions amounting to "at least tens of kilograms an hour," and continued for five hours.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection received the residents' complaints about irregular emissions from the platform. It said, "The reports by Noble Energy were examined by the ministry."
At the end of the second streaming, and the running-in period, measures will be taken to treat emissions on the platform that will reduce the emissions by 98%, as stipulated by the atmospheric emissions permit. Nevertheless, the emissions are not being burned now, because the platform's torch and FGRU system are not being operated, and the pollution created is significant for the creation of greenhouse gases. In the burning of gas to generate electricity, the natural gas creates half of the carbon dioxide that burning coal creates, but if the methane is not burned when it is released, it can affect global warming 80 times more than carbon dioxide for 20 years, so that the control processes are of critical importance when fossil fuels are used.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 2, 2020
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