Leviathan platform starts making its way to Israel

The legs of the gas rig – known as the jacket – are being transported to Israel.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
THE mammoth Leviathan natural gas pipeline-in-progress. (photo credit: COURTESY OF NOBLE ENERGY)
THE mammoth Leviathan natural gas pipeline-in-progress.
(photo credit: COURTESY OF NOBLE ENERGY)
Parts of Noble Energy’s Leviathan platform have begun making their way to Israel and are on schedule to be deployed off Israel’s coast in the first quarter of 2019. The legs of the gas rig – known as the jacket – are being transported to Israel on large barges pulled by tugboats.
The “jackets,” gargantuan pieces of equipment built by teams of welders and engineers, were created in Texas by Noble Energy and subcontractors that specialize in constructing gas rigs. Each jacket is placed on a barge which extends 180 meters, longer than a soccer field.
Over the next few weeks, the barges will cross the Atlantic Ocean and will reach Israel. The jackets will then be installed on the floor of the Mediterranean, in a complicated process that will take between two and four weeks.
In the second half of 2019, the Topsides of the gas rig will arrive in Israel. That is where the rig’s workers operate and live. Gas is expected to start flowing from Leviathan toward the end of next year.