Explainer: Israel is now an oil exporter with Energean deal, how significant?
Experts told Al-Monitor that the export is not a significant development despite the media buzz, though it may have good public relations value for Israel’s energy sector.
The London-based energy firm Energean announced Tuesday that it will start exporting oil from Israel, making the country an oil exporter for the first time.
Energean said it lifted Israeli crude oil from the Karish gas field, which is located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea off the coast of northern Israel. The energy firm said the oil will be “sold into various global markets” via an agreement with the Swiss energy firm Vitol, according to a press release.
What it means: The news was widely covered by Israeli and international media outlets, but some experts said the export is not particularly significant. Elai Rettig, a professor at Bar-Ilan University and researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center, said that gas fields regularly contain small amounts of oil.
“There is oil in every gas field. This is not a significant amount or an economy-changing event. It's a nice profit,” Rettig told Al-Monitor. “It’s not geopolitically significant. It doesn’t make Israel a real oil exporter.”
