Strategic Assessment

israel's natural gas resources: economic and strategic significance. over the last decade there have been impressive developments in the three components of israel’s natural gas industry: discovery, transport, and consumption. early 2009 marked an historic development with the discovery of the tamar and dalit gas reservoirs off the haifa- hadera coasts. these discoveries joined previous gas discoveries in the mediterranean (off the coast of ashkelon) and ensure the continued development of the natural gas sector. a seismic survey from june 2010 indicated a possibility for much larger gas reservoirs, suggesting that israel might have the potential to become a gas exporter. natural gas is one of israel’s few natural resources, and may provide it with strategic economic, security, and environmental advantages, and perhaps political as well.