The pumping of natural gas to the first industrial plant in Israel has begun.
Minister Ben Eliezer will participate in the opening ceremony for connecting the natural gas system to the American-Israeli Paper Mills - the first industrial plant in Israel to be connected to the natural gas system.
Minister Ben Eliezer will participate this evening (Monday) in the opening ceremony for connecting the natural gas system to the American-Israeli Paper Mills - the first industrial plant in Israel to be connected to the natural gas system.
Today (Monday) the Minister for National Infrastructure, Binyamin (Fouad) Ben Eliezer, will speak at the opening ceremony celebrating the connection of the natural gas system to the American-Israeli Paper Mills, in Hadera.
The following, amongst other, will participate in the ceremony: the Minister of the Environment, Gideon Ezra; the Director-General of the Ministry of National Infrastructure, Hezi Kugler, the Director-General of the Ministry of the Environment, Shai Avital; the Mayor of Hadera, Haim Avitan, the chairman of the American-Israeli Paper Mills, Zvika Livnat, the CEO of the American-Israeli Paper Mills, Avi Brenner, the manager of the Natural Gas Authority, Shuki Stern, the CEO of Netivei Gas, Dan Vardi, the chairman of the Board of Directors of Israel Electric Corp. (IEC), Moti Friedman, and the CEO of the Israel Electric Corp., Moshe Bachar.
The American-Israeli Paper Mills will be the first industrial plant in Israel to be connected to the natural gas system and to go over to working with natural gas. Until now, two IEC power stations (Eshkol in Ashdod and Reading in Tel Aviv), the Ashdod Refineries, and the desalination plant in Ashkelon have been connected to natural gas.
The American-Israeli Paper Mills will be connected to the sea route of the natural gas conveyance system, which comes from Ashdod to the Dor Beach, and branches into lines to Tel Aviv and Hadera. Other plants in the region are expected to connect to the natural gas conveyance system in the future.
Currently, The American-Israeli Paper Mills have a power station with a capacity of up to 50 MW. In the future, the American-Israeli Paper Mills are expected to construct a power station with a capacity of 230 MW.
The connection of the American-Israeli Paper Mills to natural gas will make a great contribution to the environment in the region, since natural gas will take the place of fuel oil and diesel fuel.
In his speech, Minister Ben Eliezer will express the hope that in future all Israeli industry will go over to natural gas, "from the Dead Sea Enterprises in the South, through plants in the center of the country, to industrial plants in Haifa Bay."
The following are the main points in the speech of Minister Ben Eliezer in the opening ceremony in the American-Israel Paper Mills in Hadera:
"Good evening to the Minister for the Environment, my friend Gideon Ezra, to the Mayor of Hadera, Haim Avitan, the chairman of the American-Israeli Paper Mills, Zvika Livnat, the CEO of the American-Israeli Paper Mills, Avi Brenner, the Director-General of the Ministry of National Infrastructure, Hezi Kugler, the Director-General of the Ministry of the Environment, Shai Avital, the manager of the National Gas Authority, Shuki Stern, the CEO of Netivei Gas, Dan Vardi, the chairman of the Israel Electric Corp., Moti Friedman, the CEO of the Israel Electric Corp., Moshe Bachar, and members of the audience.
I am both happy and moved to stand here before you at the opening ceremony celebrating the connection of the natural gas system to the American-Israeli Paper Mills - the first industrial plant in Israel to be connected to the natural gas system.
We are witnessing one of the most dramatic periods ever in the energy market in Israel. A series of significant revolutions and structural changes are currently being promoted in all fields, including electricity, natural gas, fuel and water. We are fully motivated to complete all of these processes for the future of the State of Israel and its citizens. The connection of the American-Israeli Paper Mills is an additional and significant step in the natural gas revolution.
There is no need to emphasize the existential dependence of each of us on various types of energy. The world is depleting its sources of fossil fuel; this is already an accomplished fact. Most estimates predict that, within a few decades, we will find ourselves facing a short of oil and natural gas. The world has long since recognized the fact that the future lies in renewable sources of energy, which, in addition to being available in unlimited quantities, do not harm the environment, which is another important factor.
The natural gas revolution that we are leading will affect every one of us. It will lead to reduction in the prices of electricity, reduction in the costs of the production processes and, most important, it will virtually bring to an end the use of fuel oil and diesel fuel in industry, and will cause a significant improvement to the quality of the air that we and our children breathe.
The Ministry of National Infrastructure, as the authority entrusted with ensuring the supply of sources of energy to the economy, is acting at a number of levels in parallel, in order to decrease the fear that the scenarios that I have previously mentioned will actually occur. For the last two years, the Director-General of the Ministry of Infrastructure has been in contact with the government of Turkey, with the aim of setting up an "infrastructure corridor" from the Jihan coast in Turkey to the Israeli coast. Turkey is a country of the greatest strategic importance for Israel, both as regards political considerations and energy . Due to its location, Turkey has relatively easy access to sources of energy and water. The recently inaugurated BTC pipeline is an excellent example. This is a huge project for conveying oil through a 1700 km pipeline, from Azerbaijan via Georgia to Turkey. From there, the oil is transported by means of tankers and marketed to countries all over the world, especially to the USA. The infrastructure corridor that I mentioned previously is designed to be the follow-on project to this one. However, in addition to this, the infrastructure corridor will include pipelines for conveying natural gas, oil, water, and perhaps even electricity, from Turkey to Israel.
The implementation of this project will ensure a regular supply of energy and water for Israel. However, in addition, the connection of the infrastructure corridor to the Eilat-Ashdod Pipeline could create an opening for the export of oil, via the Gulf of Eilat, to the Far East. My office has recently received enquiries on this subject from countries in the Far East.
Regarding natural gas, as I have already pointed out, Israel is in the midst of a revolution, whose main focus is the integration of natural gas into the electrical market, and into industry, as a replacement for polluting and expensive fuels such as oil and diesel fuel. The first source of natural gas was discovered in 1999, off the coast of Ashkelon. This gas is currently being used by the IEC's Eshkol and Reading power stations. Pumping has recently also been commenced through the overland section from Ashdod to Ashkelon, for the operation of the power station at the desalination plant, and we are now opening the northern marine section to the American-Israeli Paper Mills. The Netivei Gas company is making fast progress, and by the start of next year it will complete the overland section to the Dead Sea region, with the intention of connecting all the large plants in the area to the system.
In parallel we are taking steps to issue tenders for the natural gas distribution system, in order to build a network across the entire country and connect all the small and medium consumers to the system.
Our main problem at the moment is the lack of suppliers. In May 2005, in Egypt, I signed a memorandum of understanding with the Egyptian Oil Minister, which will form a framework agreement for the import of Egyptian natural gas to Israel for the next 20 years. Further to this memorandum, IEC signed a trade agreement with the Egyptian company EMG for the supply of natural gas via a pipeline that is currently being constructed from El Arish in Sinai, to Ashkelon. In parallel, Israel is conducting intensive negotiations with British Gas, which holds the natural gas field discovered off the Gaza coast. In addition, at a meeting that I held last year with the President of Azerbaijan, I raised the possibility of importing natural gas from Azerbaijan' enormous reserves, to Israel.
However, all this is not enough. According to forecasts made by the Ministry of National Infrastructure, the level of demand for natural gas in the economy in the next decade already justifies the search for additional sources of natural gas. Consequently, the Mediterranean has again been opened up for gas prospecting, and there are currently a number of potential reservoirs to be drilled. One of them lies not far from here, off the Haifa coast, and we all hope that we will discover "blue and white" natural gas that will supply the Israeli economy for many years. Furthermore, for about two years the Ministry of National Infrastructure has been conducting negotiations with the Russian gas company, Gazprom, for the purpose of importing natural gas to Israel.
However, this is still not enough. The Ministry of National Infrastructure is in the final stages of a feasibility study, prior to the issue of a tender for the construction of a plant for the liquefaction of natural gas (LNG), which will permit the import of condensed natural gas to Israel in a liquid state, by means of tankers, from any point on the globe. In addition, the Ministry is seriously examining the import of compressed natural gas (CNG) by means of tankers to Israel, as a supplement to LNG.
My friends, the supply of natural gas to the American-Israeli Paper Mills is only the beginning. I can foresee all Israeli industry converting to natural gas, from the Dead Sea Enterprises in the south, through plants in the center of the country, to industrial plants in Haifa Bay. The Israeli economy will save hundreds of millions of shekels directly, and many billions indirectly. I should like to congratulate all those taking part in the work. Who knows better than I the difficulties that everyone faced in order to reach this hoped for moment. I am very hopeful that we will all learn from the mistakes that were made, and we that will very soon open many more industrial plants and their connection to the natural gas system."