Israel ordered on Thursday natural gas production at the huge offshore Leviathan field be reduced by around 40 percent after a fault was detected in a subsea pipeline leading to the wells, the energy ministry said. There wasn’t any damage to the platform and associated facilities, nor any leak into the sea, the ministry added, as carried by the Jerusalem Post. After the fault was discovered, the energy ministry told the operator of the platform, U.S.-based Noble Energy, to cut the volumes of natural gas production by 40 percent. Production will be allowed to increase only after all necessary tests are successfully completed, the ministry said. Leviathan has just begun production and the fault discovered on Thursday was the second malfunction on the site this week. Early on Tuesday, a power outage led to the burning off of gas, and operations were suspended for several hours. There is no […]