For the first time in history, Israel will rely on its own supply of natural gas without the need for external suppliers. According to the Israeli Minister of Energy, this change will be effective from the year 2022.

The oil industry is going through a difficult time all around the world. Nevertheless, the Middle East region continues to be a strong production hub and, despite the downtrend, there are new discoveries that have been drawing attention. Among these new discoveries, the greatest emphasis is on the new natural gas reserves, which increase the country’s potential exports to Europe and open new business opportunities.

Israel currently operates two large natural gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea: Tamar, which has been pumping gas since 2013, and Leviathan, which began its production last year. A third gas source, the Karish field, should start producing gas over the next year. At that point, as indicated by the Minister of Energy, there will be no need for external backups, as it fulfills today the role of supplying emergency offshore gas on a boat from the Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU), off the coast of Hadera.

These latest discoveries place the country in a position to be considered a regional power in gas production, alongside other countries also considered powers such as Greece and Cyprus, and have the potential to redesign the regional economy and geopolitics.

After the latest discoveries, cooperative movements have begun between countries in the region, and a negotiation is already underway for the construction of gas pipelines linking Israeli fields to European consumer markets, crossing the Greek, Cypriot and Italian areas. Through this cooperative relationship between these countries and the involved energy companies, there would be various political and economic benefits for the countries involved.

The destination, however, is still being negotiated. Both regarding to which countries and which markets the reserves will be offered, and the extraction itself, which, as experts point out, is in deep waters of unstable areas that are difficult to access. Access to these reserves must therefore be done through a plan that takes into consideration respect for the environment and, to this end, there are still a few studies to be done before a concrete plan is devised for utilizing this rich product.