Israel has saved NIS 35.5 billion in energy since natural gas began flowing into country.
By SHARON UDASINIsrael's natural gas(photo credit: MINISTRY OF NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURES)
With more and more natural gas flowing into Israel, the country has achieved record consumption levels of the resource in the past few months, the National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Ministry reported on Tuesday.In January, daily consumption peaked at 30,779 cubic meters, passing the previous daily record of 28,466 cu.m.recorded one day in August, the ministry said. As far as hourly usage is concerned, in February, such consumption peaked at 1,710 cu.m. of gas, passing the hourly record of 1,544 cu.m. of gas achieved in September 2014.Since natural gas began flowing into Israel a decade ago, Israel has saved about NIS 35.5 billion in the energy sector, the ministry said.About 7.57 billion cu.m. of gas flowed into Israel in 2014, a 9 percent increase in comparison to 2013, the ministry said. According to ministry estimates, the country is expected to receive about 8.57 b.cu.m. of gas in 2015.The continued increase in recent years is primarily due to the connection of the 282-b.cu.m. Tamar reservoir, located about 80 kilometers west of Haifa, which began flowing in March 2013.Emphasizing how the use of natural gas is “good news” for the entire economy, National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom said Israel’s economic development and decreasing the cost of living “are two of the guiding aspects” of his ministry.“The ministry continues to promote activities that will ultimately impact the price reductions of electricity, water, gas and other products and contribute to strengthening Israel’s geopolitical position regionally and globally,” he said.
