OTC 2016: Israel to Hold Oil, Gas Bid Round in 2016

Israel is scheduled to hold an international oil and gas bid round this year, confirmed Eitan Levon, consul general of Israel to the Southwest US, in a presentation at OTC in Houston.

Addressing industry delegates, Levon revealed that the Levant basin could still hold undiscovered resources of 6.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent. In a statement in November, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said experts estimate that there are between 10,000 and 15,000 billion cubic meters of gas in the East Mediterranean basin.

Steinitz stated Nov. 10, 2015 that he expected offshore natural gas exploration to accelerate in the next few months, with investment from a range of major energy firms. The energy minister revealed that he had met officials from companies such as ENI, Shell and Exxon Mobile to try and entice them into putting money in Israeli fields off the Mediterranean coast.

Israel’s energy industry is currently experiencing some turmoil after the High Court blocked the government’s controversial proposal to regulate the natural gas industry. Speaking to Reuters in March, Steinitz revealed that he believes recent turmoil in the country's natural gas sector will be resolved within a couple of months.

Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this article