On January 31, 2025, Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR purchased a 10% stake in Israel's Mediterranean gas field Tamar.
On January 31, 2025, Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR announced that SOCAR signed an agreement with United Energy to acquire a 10% stake in the Tamar project, one of Israel's largest and most important gas fields in the Mediterranean basin.
American Oil and Chevron operate and hold a 25% stake in the Mediterranean Tamar gas field (Tamar), and the remaining shares are held by other partners including Islamco, Tamar Investment 2, Tamar Petroleum and Dor Gas.
Israel first discovered a natural gas field on the Mediterranean coast more than a decade ago and became a natural gas exporter.
Israel has been exporting natural gas from the Tamar gas field to neighboring Jordan since 2017.
This is not SOCAR's first attempt to enter the Israeli natural gas market, but it is SOCAR's first major investment in the Mediterranean.
In 2023, SOCAR, together with a consortium of British multinational oil and gas companies BP and NewMed Energy, bid for the exploration and development of offshore natural gas fields in the area near Israel's Leviathan gas field, one of the largest deepwater natural gas fields in the world.
The Tamar gas field is located about 90 kilometers west of Haifa, with a total depth of about 5,000 meters below sea level and covers an area of 100 square kilometers. Natural gas is extracted through six production wells with a designed daily output of about 31 million cubic meters.
The field was discovered in 2009 and began production in 2013. The field provides natural gas to Israel after Egypt's natural gas supply was interrupted and reduced coal and oil power generation.
After the outbreak of the Middle East war in October 2023, Israel suspended production at the Tamar gas field, but resumed production a month later.
