The Italian energy company Eni SpA announced on Sunday that a huge natural gas field – “supergiant” in size and possibly the largest ever discovered in the Mediterranean — has been discovered in the Mediterranean off of Egypt. The news washed ashore like a tidal wave in Israel and throughout the Middle East. Israel’s own mammoth discovery — the Leviathan field — was not only supposed to make the Jewish state energy independent, but its main customer was supposed to be Egypt. Adding to the new circumstances, it was the anticipated Egyptian revenue that was earmarked to fund the exploration and development of the Leviathan site, the primary developers of which are the Texas-based Noble Energy and Israel’s own Delek Group. After Israel’s government changed the terms of the Noble and Delek agreement, a new deal was negotiated and predicated upon the government allowing the process to be accelerated in order to begin delivery of gas to Egypt – a condition presumably no longer necessary. The Eni field is believed to hold as much as 40% more gas than the Israeli Leviathan. Israeli media reports are critical of the government for failing to recognize the active gas exploration in Egypt and Eni’s role with the Egyptians in preparing its regional assessments, hence catching the Israelis flat-footed with word of the new find.