BP, Socar, NewMed to begin Israel gas exploration

A seismographic ship is due in Israel in September to begin active offshore gas exploration in Block I on behalf of BP, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and NewMed Energy (TASE: NWMD), market sources believe. This will be the first active gas exploration in Israel since Energean (TASE: ENOG; LSE: ENOG) found small fields in 2022 in the license it had been granted in 2016.

The consortium won exploration rights in the block in October 2023, but due to the outbreak of war, they only officially took the license in March 2025. Israel will need many more gas assets to meet the huge electricity demand in the coming decade.

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A 3D seismic survey is the first active stage in gas exploration. It requires a unique ship that must be booked months in advance and must sail for about a year around the entire area of the block to locate potential gas reserves. After that, when the chances of finding gas can be assessed, exploration drilling is carried out, which is what finally determines whether a new gas field has been discovered in Israel or not.

Many delays

Gas exploration in Israel has been significantly delayed in recent years. The Ministry of Energy has published four competitive procedures for gas exploration, but none of them have led to active exploration. This is due to a combination of circumstances, including the maritime border agreement with Lebanon, the outbreak of the war in October 2023, and the failure to fulfil license opportunities.

The most promising license winning consortium of Delek Group unit NewMed (owner of about 45% of the Leviathan field), together with oil and gas giant BP and SOCAR, was delayed again due to the suspension of the export permit to Egypt in order to ensure a low gas price for the local economy.

At the time, it was believed that the consortium’s seismic vessel would arrive in the first half of 2026, but this was delayed, and now the new date is September 2026. At the same time, another consortium of license winners in the same competitive process, Ratio, Dana Petroleum and ENI, have not yet taken up the license. In October 2025, Italy’s ENI withdrew due to geopolitical reasons, and Ratio announced this to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) in March. In May, Ratio announced that it had found a new international partner, but requested and received another extension on the official announcement and withdrawal of the license, which is expected to end today. Now, Ratio may request another extension, and it is not yet clear when if it will withdraw from the license and if active gas exploration will begin.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on June 18, 2026.

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