Shareholders of Israeli energy company Delek Drilling have agreed to invest in the East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG), the owner of the pipeline linking gas fields in Israel to Egyptian export terminals, Interfax Global Energy reports.

Delek, along with its Texas-based partner Noble Energy, will invest $200 million to buy a 37% stake in EMG. This would make the consortium the largest voting bloc in the company, paving the way for them to pass a motion allowing them to use the pipeline.

The consortium has been negotiating to buy the rights to use EMG’s pipeline in order to carry out the $15 billion deal signed with Egyptian company Dolphinus Holdings earlier in 2018.

Under the agreement, the Israeli consortium will sell 64 billion cubic feet (bcf) – 3.5 – 4 billion cubic meters per year – of natural gas to Dolphinus from their Leviathan and Tamar fields.

Delek expects to close the deal with EMG’s shareholders in the next few weeks, a company spokesperson told Interfax Natural Gas Daily.

Interfax Global Energy analysts noted the decrease in Delek share prices following rumors that Italian oil major Eni had discovered another large gas field off Egypt’s north Sinai coast.

However, Eni’s CEO denied the existence of the so-called Noor gas field in a statement on June 2.