JERUSALEM- Israel's offshore Leviathan field will sell about $1.7 billion of natural gas in 2021, or around 10 billion cubic meters (BCM), about 12% more than previously forecast, Delek Drilling said on Wednesday.

It had previously estimated sales below 9 billion BCM this year.

Delek Drilling is a partner with Chevron in Leviathan, Israel's largest gas field, which came online the end of 2019 and supplies Israel, Jordan and Egypt with gas.

"The continued rise and the stability in the actual export of gas to Egypt, alongside the increased demand in the domestic market, has led us to increase the forecast for sales and production from the Leviathan reservoir," said Delek Drilling CEO Yossi Abu.

The company said that the total resource evaluation for the reservoir is, in the best estimate, around 642 BCM, not including some 7 BCM produced last year. The value of the field rose 2.3% since a resources report last year to reach $10.8 billion.

Delek Drilling, which has a 45.34% stake in the project, said its share of revenue will be around $760 million.

The field's operator, Noble Energy Mediterranean, which was acquired by Chevron last year, has a 39.66% stake. Ratio Oil holds the remaining 15%.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch Editing by Steven Scheer) ((ari.rabinovitch@thomsonreuters.com; +972-2-632-2202; Reuters Messaging: ari.rabinovitch@thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))