By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM, March 5 (Reuters) - Israel's natural gas exports to Egypt and Jordan surged by about 13.4% in 2024, despite the country's war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, Israel's energy ministry said on Wednesday.

The jump "demonstrates that Israel’s natural gas industry is a strategic asset, contributing to regional stability" and security, Energy Minister Eli Cohen.

Israel is positioning itself as a regional energy hub and has committed to supplying natural gas to Europe, which has been diversifying away from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

"My policy is clear: to maximize the utilization of Israel’s natural gas reserves," Cohen said, adding he hoped the coming year would bring more competition and opportunities to export natural gas.

In the past, Cohen has said Israel was looking into expanding exports to enable supplies to Europe, either through Egyptian liquefaction plants or by building local facilities.

The offshore Leviathan field, operated by Chevron CVX.N with two Israeli partners, produced 11.33 billion cubic meters (bcm), up 2.7% from 2023, while exports contributed 87.5% of total revenue of 1.022 billion shekels ($282 million), the ministry said.

The nearby Tamar field earned revenue of 779 million shekels from 10.09 bcm of natural gas.

Natural gas production rose 8.3% in 2024, while royalties jumped 10.88% to 2.37 billion shekels.

Cohen said total state revenues from natural gas including royalties, corporate tax, and levies will reach some 5 billion shekels this year, and 10 billion within a few years.

Since the beginning of natural gas production in Israel more than a decade ago, total accumulated state revenue from such output has totalled nearly 30 billion shekels.

Half of this amount, or 14.9 billion shekels, came from royalties collected by the ministry, and the remainder from natural resource profit levies and corporate taxes.

State royalties feed into a nascent sovereign wealth fund, aimed at preventing the Israeli shekel from overheating from a sudden expansion in national wealth.

Israel discovered huge deposits of natural gas in the east Mediterranean 15 years ago and major production began in 2013.

($1 = 3.6206 shekels)

(Reporting by Steven ScheerEditing by Bernadette Baum)

((steven.scheer@thomsonreuters.com; +972 2 632 2210; Reuters Messaging: Twitter: @StevenMScheer))