The Israeli government is seeing record income from natural gas sale royalties.

Data released recently by the Royalties Department at the Ministry of Energy shows that in the first half of 2022, a significant jump of about 48% was recorded in the total royalties collected from natural gas. Between January and June 2022, royalties reached NIS 824 million (roughly $250 million), compared to about NIS 557 million ($165 million) during the first half of 2021.

This increase comes thanks to record production of natural gas from the Leviathan and Tamar reservoirs, which amounted to 10.85 billion cubic meters (BCM), compared to production of 8.9 BCM in the first half of 2021, an increase of 21.9%; 6.26 BCM have been directed for the domestic market and 4.59 BCM for export. In addition to the production increase, the dollar exchange rate hike has also contributed to a significant increase in Israel's total royalties.

According to the Ministry of Energy, royalties collected from the Leviathan reservoir, Israel's largest natural gas reservoir, amounted to NIS 453 million ($137 million) and production reached 5.62 BCM, a 27.5% jump compared to the same period last year. The volume of exports constituted about 68% of total production from the Leviathan reservoir, while the value of royalties originating from exports constituted 77.4% of the total royalties.