Israel Energy Minister Silvan Shalom.
Israeli natural gas is saving the country’s economy $300 million a month, a figure that could reach as high as $1 billion, Israeli Energy Minister Silvan Shalom told Bloomberg News, adding that the country has become an attractive natural gas supplier in the global marketplace, one that “everyone wants to hug.”
“It means it will bring a huge improvement to the Israeli economy because the gas will be much cheaper. We will cut the tariff for electricity. We will cut the tariff for water that is produced by electricity, and all the products that are produced in Israel will be much cheaper,” Shalom told Bloomberg.
The Tamar gas field was Israel’s first major hydrocarbon discovery within its territory, spurring the discovery of other major fields such as Leviathan.
Located off the coast of Haifa, the Tamar field is believed to hold over 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. In 2010, American energy giant, Noble Energy, signed an agreement with Israel’s Delek group to develop the field.