It’s a great pleasure for me to address the Israel Natural Gas Trade Association on the occasion of the release of this report summarizing ten years of unprecedented breakthroughs and success in the sector. There are few other examples of a country where, in such a short period of time, the energy shift has been more impressive, delivering both economic and environmental benefits to citizens, industry and the region at large. Gas development has been the key to transforming, in just about ten years, Israel from being almost completely dependent on the import of foreign and polluting fuels to supply its most basic energy needs in a more economic and cleaner way.

This exceptional success has been the product of developing three natural gas reservoirs – Tamar, Leviathan, and Karish – which, initially, transformed it into an independent country in terms of energy supply, and later into an important regional exporter of natural gas. This impressive achievement enabled Israel to dramatically lower pollution levels by reducing the use of coal (towards a complete cessation of its use in the next few
years), and, no less importantly, enabled it to be “immune” to the global energy crisis which took place in the past two years. Thanks to the natural gas positive revolution, Israelis have also enjoyed much more favourable pricing for their electricity consumption, also substantially improving the trade balance of the State.

And gas played a crucial role in making regional ties stronger, allowing more intense and forward looking cooperation with several countries in the region and, more broadly, in an extended Mediterranean framework. Europe and the rest of the world are closely following Israeli further developments as its additional export potential could well contribute to further diversification and security of gas supplies, while not reducing the benefits for the country and its citizens. Israel’s natural gas development has been a clear success story and it can deliver it on a global scale. Looking forward to promising next steps.