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Israel signs deal for $140 mln off-shore LNG terminal off Hadera

State-owned Israel Natural Gas Lines said on Monday it signed a deal with Italian marine contractor Micoperi to build an off-shore liquefied natural gas terminal costing about 500 million shekels ($140 million), Reuters reports. The company said in a statement that the terminal, to be built some 10 kilometres out from the Mediterranean coastal city of Hadera, will have the capacity to receive about 2.5 billion cubic meters of LNG each year. Construction is due to begin in the second half of 2012 and be completed by the end of the year, the statement said. Though natural gas production in Israel is set to soar in coming decades after the discovery of huge off-shore deposits, the country faces a short-term gas shortage between the time production goes online and its current reserves run dry. Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said on Monday Israel could face a shortage as early as the third quarter of 2012, and that the terminal is a quick solution. "The terminal is of the utmost strategic importance for the country's ability to ensure a continuous energy supply to its power stations and to safeguard its energy security," he said.