CAIRO, June 19 (Reuters) - Israel has resumed limited

natural gas exports from surplus supplies, the country's Energy

Ministry said on Thursday, nearly a week after shutting down two

key offshore fields as Israel and Iran waged an air battle.

A ministry spokesperson told Reuters that exports are now

resuming "from surpluses, after domestic needs are met."

An energy ministry source said most of the limited exported

gas is currently flowing to Jordan, and only "tiny volumes"

reached Egypt this week.

Egyptian fertilizer producers, who were forced to halt

operations due to the supply disruption, told Reuters they have

yet to receive any gas but expect flows to resume next week.

The Egyptian Petroleum Ministry did not immediately respond

to a Reuters request for comment.

Following military escalation in the region, Israel halted

exports on June 13 after closing the Leviathan field, operated

by Chevron ( CVX ) and the Karish field operated by Energean ( EERGF ). Only the

Tamar field has remained operational, supplying mainly domestic

demand.

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said on Wednesday that

exports would only resume once military authorities deemed it

safe.

"I don't want to use our strategic storage, so therefore, I

needed to cut exports," he told Reuters.

Egypt, which has increasingly relied on Israeli gas since a

domestic production decline in 2022, is scrambling to compensate

for the supply gap. The country has ramped up fuel oil use in

power plants and has signed deals to import over $8 billion

worth of liquefied natural gas, while preparing additional

floating regasification units.

Israeli gas typically accounts for up to 60% of Egypt's

total gas imports and around a fifth of its total consumption,

according to data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative

(JODI).