JERUSALEM, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Israel's natural gas and oil revenues totaled 842 million new shekels (about 246 million U.S. dollars) in 2019, according to an annual report released Monday by the state's Ministry of Energy.
The report includes revenue from royalties from natural gas, oil and minerals, as well as fees, which all together amounted to about 252 million dollars in 2019.
Most of Israel's natural gas revenue, about 244 million dollars, came from the natural gas produced at Tamar field in the Mediterranean Sea.
This amount reflects the production of 10.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Tamar in 2019 and about 482,000 barrels of related condensate.
This marks a decrease of 2.5 percent compared with 2018, which is due to a 7.77-percent decrease of the dollar exchange rate against the shekel, and as a result of a temporary reduction in production due to handling of the Tamar rig in April 2019.
According to the reports, Israel's revenues from Tamar's royalties since it started operation in 2013 has reached 1.51 billion dollars.
Meged oil field and Yam Thetis gas field, both in the Mediterranean as well, generated revenue of about 790,000 dollars each, while Leviathan, Israel's largest gas field that began operating in December 2019, contributed 95,000 dollars to the total revenue.
Following the operation of the Leviathan, the ministry expects a significant increase in gas and oil royalties in 2020 to a new record of 1.5 billion new shekels.
In addition, royalties from minerals totaled about 3.12 million dollars in 2019.
