A historic natural gas discovery was reported yesterday, which resulted from exploratory drilling 56 miles west of Haifa. The exact value of the natural gas reservoir is still not known; however, according to estimates, 554 billion barrels are likely present, worth $15-16 billion.

Israel has been looking for such energy sources for over 50 years. The first drill was made in 1955 and was a disappointment for investors. More than 500 subsequent drillings caught investors’ imaginations and raised the share prices of the companies doing the searches. The share prices took hold until they were told that the “amount is not commercial,” after which they plummeted. Only in rare cases was oil or gas found in small commercial quantities. Until “Tamar 1” came along at a depth of 5,577 feet under the sea and over 9,843 feet underground.

The CEO of Delek, the Israeli energy corporation responsible for the gas exploration, Assi Bartfeld, said should further drillings in the coming weeks verify the findings, it would be possible to produce natural gas within three years. The supply could meet the State of Israel’s needs for at least two decades.

Finding gas in this quantity has broad ramifications for many other ranches of the economy. This includes shifting to natural gas-powered cars instead of gasoline and diesel, reducing the cost of producing electricity. As a result, Israeli consumers would see reduced energy costs as well as with the costs of producing other items.

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The Israeli stock market reacted very well to the news with sharp rises, with Delek shares rising by 42 percent

Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer updated the Israeli cabinet, calling the potential find “big on an international scale.”

“This is an historic moment for Israel’s energy. If it is verified, this is the biggest discovery in the history of the State of Israel,” Mr. Ben-Eliezer said.

Today the Israel Electric Corporation, Israeli’s main consumer of natural gas, uses gas from the drills whose reservoir opposite Ashdod and Ashkelon that will be depleted within two-three years.

Israel has been conducting complex negotiations to use gas reserves opposite the shores of Gaza, which are owned in part by British Petroleum Inc.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

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David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

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