US Energy Secretary Chris Wright canceled a visit to Israel that was scheduled to take place in the coming days due to Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen’s refusal to ratify the Leviathan consortium’s gas supply deal to Egypt.
Cohen justifies his decision by Egypt’s repeated violations of the terms of the 1979 peace treaty and the requirement for the consortium to reduce gas prices for the Israeli market.
The United States, in turn, is lobbying for the interests of the American oil company Chevron, which owns almost 40% of the shares of the Leviatan consortium.
Let us recall that in August 2025, the Consortium, which owns the rights to develop Israel’s largest gas field, Leviatan, announced the conclusion of a gas supply deal with Egypt worth $35 billion.
The consortium will supply Egypt with 130 billion cubic meters of gas as part of the deal, which is 22% of the total gas reserves in the field, over the next 15 years.
The deal is in addition to a 2019 deal to supply Egypt with 60 billion cubic meters of gas.
In September 2025, the Egyptian government approved a project to build a new gas pipeline between El Arish and the Israeli border in the Nitzana area.