The Delek gas company says it's trying to find the problem, but whatever it is that went wrong offshore over the Sabbath, it has cut off Israel's natural gas supply.
The "Yam Thetis" natural gas supplier underwent maintenance at its offshore gas deposit today, expecting to renew the supply immediately after. But it didn't work out that way, and while experts seek out the source of the problem, Israel remains gasless until further notice.
LATE-BREAKING BULLETIN: It was announced at 10 PM that the problem has been found, and the gas supply is expected to be renewed late Saturday night.
The Israel Electric Company will continue to supply electricity, but it will be fueled only by diesel fuel (soler) and mazut - causing ecological and other problems. It is thought that the problem might possibly be a computer fault.
The gas deposit is jointly owned by Noble Energy, Delek, and Isramco. The works today were designed to prepare to increase the supply of gas to the electric company, in light of the uncertainty in the Egyptian gas market. Egypt's EMG company, which halted its gas supply to Israel a month ago, continues to waffle on when the supply will be renewed.
Since 2008, Egypt has supplied Israel with 40% of its gas needs, used for 20% of Israel's electricity.