Energean has begun pumping gas to its floating production facility in the offshore Karish gas field as part of reverse flow testing procedures approved by the Israeli government, the energy group said Sunday.

It said the testing phase is an important step in the commissioning process of the so-called FPSO Energean Power facility.

Two Lebanese officials Sunday told AFP that they had been informed by the US mediator that the company Energean was only carrying out tests and had therefore not started operating the Karish field.

Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah has, on several occasions, threatened Israel with war if Tel Aviv were to start extracting gas before an agreement is reached between Lebanon and Israel on the demarcation of their maritime border. Negotiations on this issue suffered a setback on Thursday when Israel rejected amendments suggested by Lebanon to the proposal for resolving the dispute presented by American mediator Amos Hochstein.