After five weeks of traveling at sea, the natural gas platform Karish FPSO arrived June 5 at its designated location, off the shores of Israel. Shortly after its arrival, operation teams began connecting the rig to the gas wells and piping networks. The floating platform should serve for production, storage and offloading of drilled natural gas. Energean said the new rig will start operating by September. The new rig was commissioned by the Greek Energean firm, which holds gas production licenses for Israeli Karish and Tanin reservoirs.

Energean CEO Mathios Rigas said after the arrival of the rig, "This marks a major step forward in delivering first gas from Karish. … We look forward to continuing our progress through Karish first gas, the commercialization of the newly defined Olympus Area and contributing to energy security and competition of supply for the region."

Israeli authorities hailed the arrival of the rig, which advances efforts of drilling and exporting Israeli natural gas. In fact, already on May 30, Energy Minister Karine Elharrar tweeted, "We’re embarking on the fourth Israeli natural gas exploration. Israel engages in efforts to assist Europe which now finds itself in a severe energy crisis, while preserving and protecting its [Israel’s] local economy. … We have a real opportunity to export Israeli gas."

The arrival of the platform to the Karish gas field, the northernmost gas reservoir in Israel’s territorial waters, rekindled an old debate between Israel and Lebanon over the two countries’ maritime boundary. Or more precisely, about the right to explore maritime zones for economic profits. Israeli authorities claim that the specific location of the platform is not in the disputed area, but this does not hinder diplomatic tensions from simmering.