Offshore natural gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean have created critical opportunities for cooperation among countries in the region, especially Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Turkey.

This document was offered by the authors for publication as a Samuel Neaman Institute (SNI) report. While the study was not conducted at SNI, it deals with a national policy subject of much interest. The report was reviewed internally at SNI and is being published under the framework of the SNI project Clean Energy Innovation Policy in Israel.
Prof. Gershon Grossman, Senior Research Fellow, Project Leader

Gina Cohen, well known natural gas expert in the Eastern Mediterranean region and lecturer at the Technion University, compiled her briefings and meetings in Turkey, for Enerji IQ.

The East Mediterranean region is home to some of the world’s most promising gas reserves. But, as energy consultant Gina Cohen explains, developing them is proving highly challenging for the main players in the sector

Israel is examining its policies and options for exporting natural gas in light of the vast gas discoveries made offshore Israel in 2009 [the Tamar field, with 11 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of reserves] and in 2010 (the Leviathan field, with 20 Tcf), as well as the smaller Tanin field (1.1 Tcf) in 2011 and the Karish field (1.8 Tcf) in 2013. In June 2013, the government of Israel sanctioned the export of 40% of these proven reserves.