Energean said on Thursday the first gas from its flagship Israeli fields, due to start flowing at the end of this year, could slip by two to three months.
The company said this was due to delays to increasing the workforce that is building its floating production, storage, and offloading vessel in Singapore, which was due to sail to Israel towards the end of the third quarter 2021.
Energean said this was primarily due to Covid-19 working conditions.
"Energean and its contractors are in ongoing discussions to achieve the required workforce numbers to deliver first gas around year-end," the company said.
"However, in the case that no further ramp up in the workforce is achieved, first gas could slip by between two and three months, into 1Q 2022."
Energean also said it believed that these schedule adjustments would be likely to be the subject of an extension of time claim under force majeure.
The eastern Mediterranean-focused company plans to spend $515 million to $590 million this year, with the bulk intended to get Karish gas field, offshore Israel, onstream.
It said it planned to pay its maiden dividend in 2022.
CEO Mathios Rigas told Reuters last week that if 2022 is the first full year of production from Karish, Energean would aim to start paying dividends from the end of that year.
(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; editing by Jason Neely and Jane Merriman)
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