A look on the Natural resource deposits in Israel

Posted by alvina on December 25th, 2019

Israel in the decades past was heavily reliant on imported energy supplies in order to meet its energy needs. With the discovery of massive natural gas fields off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the natural gas industry has been growing at an exponential pace and has set Israel on the map as an energy supplier. This discovery means that Israel is now self-reliant and does not need outside sources to meet the domestic energy demand, and in fact can now export out the surplus natural gas to other countries, and make good profits out of it.

Natural gas is considered to be a cleaner form of fossil energy and is preferred above conventional sources of energy like crude oil, coal and so forth. What exactly is natural gas? This is a gas that occurs naturally and is comprised of hydrocarbons like methane and other gases. Natural gas was formed over a period of millions of years, when plant matter and animal matter decomposed due to the enormous heat and pressure that was exerted under the surface of the earth. The energy is stored in the gas in the form of chemical bonds.

Natural gas has a lot of uses. It is used as a source of energy (in the form of heat) in cooking, heating as well as to generate electricity. It can also be used as fuel for vehicles and in other processes that require energy. When compared to fuels like coal, natural gas has a lower environmental footprint, and as such, it is preferred to those types of fuels.

Where is natural gas found?

Natural gas is normally found inside the earth, under deep rock formations both on land and under the sea, and is mostly found together with other fossil fuels like crude oil and so forth.

In Israel, the natural gas deposits have been estimated to be around 7 trillion cubic feet in the year 2015, and as such is a significant volume. Before this discovery, Israel was primarily an importer of natural gas from countries like Egypt. But with the discovery, Israel has been supplying its domestic needs from its own reserves, and has sold the surplus off for good profits.

The mainly discovered gas field deposits are the Ashkelon gas field, Tamar gas field and the Leviathan gas field. The population of Israel use around 1 percent of the total gas found over the course of a year, which is an insignificant amount, leaving Israel with a lot of gas that it can sell. Over the last 10 years, there has been a discovery of over 30 trillion cubic feet of gas off the coast of Israel, and with new discoveries happening, there is a chance of that figure doubling very soon. With these discoveries of Israel oil and gas, there is a gradual transition that is taking place from fossil fuels to natural gas, along with the rise in exports to neighboring countries like Egypt and Jordan.