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World Jewish News
Information Disclosure: How the Russian Gazprom Missed Israeli Gas
18.02.2009
The leaders of Russian gas giant Gazprom were considering investment in the Tamar borehole in the vicinity of Haifa. Shortly before the discovery of immense gas resources there, the Russians abandoned the project, thus completely losing the entry to the Israeli market.
Information about the negotiations with "Gazprom" became public accidentally, as reported by the Globes economic publication. It happened in connection with the civil suit filed in May 2008 to the Magistrate's Court in Tel Aviv by the director of "Infinity" Nisim Didzhilenti to the Director-General of "Israamko" Yossi Levy. Dizhilenti demanded reimbursement in the amount of 63 thousand shekels for his trips to Russia as an intermediary in the transaction between the Israamko gas company and Gazprom. The court dismissed the lawsuit almost completely, but the details of negotiations with Russian gas giant became available to the press.
Director of Israamko Yossi Levy confirmed to the Globes that the initial negotiations with Gazprom had been held, but only after the British Gas announced the termination of participation in the project in 2005. Gazprom became interested in the possibility of gas production, but the transaction was ultimately not realized. According to Levy, the purchase of shares in Israamko "was given less importance than the accession of Gazprom as a partner in gas production in "Tamar."
Clearly, for Gazprom, which in recent years has been seeking entry to the Israeli market, the failure of the deal is a big loss, said the Globes. Having obtained the right to produce gas in "Tamar," the company would have become the main supplier of gas in Israel and throughout the Mediterranean basin. According to initial estimates, the amount of gas found in the territorial waters of Israel at a distance of 90 km. from Haifa, totals to over 100 billion cubic meters. The value of the detected field is estimated at about 15 billion dollars.
As already reported by the IzRus portal, detection of those resources actually put an end to the plans to export gas from Russia and Azerbaijan. As one of the leading Israeli experts in the field of energy, employee of the Centre for National Strategic Studies Shmuel Even said, even if the size of the deposit by Haifa is exaggerated, Israel, in any case, provided with a high level of energy security.
According to him, Israel's desire to differentiate its sources of gas supplies has led to negotiations with the Russian Gazprom and Azerbaijan. But these projects are very far from implementation, while the construction of a 450-kilometer gas pipeline from Turkey to Jaykhan, where the pipeline connecting Baku and Tbilisi ends, costs billions of dollars. "This line would bring gas to Ashkelon, with a branch in Haifa, but with the financial crisis, no one is willing to invest in it. Other variants of gas transfer-tankers, for example-are very expensive and will increase the price of each cubic meter to such an extent that it will be absolutely unprofitable," emphasized Even. However, he does not believe that it is necessary to terminate the negotiations with Moscow and Baku.
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