(AFP) - Israel formally invited bids for 24 new oil-and-gas exploration licenses off its Mediterranean coast on Tuesday, the first in four years. Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said the offer covers half of Israel's economic waters. He told a news conference, "Estimates are that most of the natural gas in Israel's economic waters is yet to be found." he said at a press conference, adding that the United States
Department of Energy shared that view.
The government hopes the new blocks turn up discoveries comparable to the Tamar and Leviathan natural gas fields found off its coast in recent years. Tuesday's offering is the first to be made through open competitive bidding, and Steinitz said it was designed in consultation with anti-trust
authorities and according to "best international practice". A ministry statement said the Noble-Delek consortium behind Tamar and Leviathan is ineligible to tender, along with licencees of other smaller existing fields "with estimated reserves exceeding 200 billion cubic metres".