The Minister of Energy, Dr. Yuval Steinitz, granted the 8 licenses to the British companies Cairn and Pharos and the Israeli company Ratio, which they received from the Petroleum Commissioner within the Ministry of Energy, within the framework of the second bidding round to receive oil and natural gas exploration licenses, and in addition Energean and Israel Opportunity received 4 licenses.
Minister of Energy, Dr. Yuval Steinitz: “The new exploration licenses that I granted this morning enable the entry of new players into Israel’s natural gas market, which will lead to heightened competition and the continued break-up of the monopoly. This time also, the main benefactors from the tax revenues and a decrease in air pollution, are all the citizens of the State of Israel.
The licenses were approved by the Petroleum Council after an examination of the threshold conditions and the work program submitted by the companies.
Cairn, Pharos and Ratio received exploration licenses in blocks 39,40,47,48 (Zone A) and 45,46,52,53 (Zone C).
Energean and Israel Opportunity received exploration licenses in blocks 55,56,61,62 (Zone D).
This current process which started in November 2018 took place after the conclusion of the first bidding round which ended in November 2017, within the framework of which 6 exploration licenses were granted to Energean and to a consortium of Indian companies.
Another bidding round is expected to take place in 2021.
