Russia’s Gazprom considering Israeli gas?

JERUSALEM, April 14 (UPI) — Russian gas explorers have approached the Israeli government regarding possible offshore exploration activity, Israeli ministers said.

A delegation from Russian energy giant Gazprom arrived in Israel to meet with government ministers regarding offshore activity, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reports.

Gazprom officials met with Israeli Infrastructure Minister Yaakov Mimran to discuss possible work in the Mira and Sarah offshore gas fields.

Gazprom, Haaretz adds, expressed interest in the past in working as the operator in several Israeli oil and gas fields. Work in Israel could include gas transits from Turkey, the report added.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in February, however, said his country was losing interest in Russian gas because of offshore developments closer to home.

“We discovered very large deposits of gas on the shore of the sea close to Israel, very large,” he said. “So, whereas we had a very clear interest before in getting Russian gas, right now we are less enthusiastic because we simply found gas.”

A U.S.-Israeli team announced recently it discovered more than 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in deposits about 55 miles off the coast of Haifa.

For more on Gazprom’s attempts at Israeli gas read: ” Russia Tried to Buy in to Israel’s Gas Discovery”.

Russia Tried to Buy in to Israel’s Gas Discovery

New’s of Russia’s interest in partnering in Israel’s Tamar-1 gas field came out in court this week.

“Gazprom has been trying to enter the Israeli energy market for years. Missing out on the Tamar prospect is a major loss, because the gas discovery at the prospect would have enabled the company to become a major supplier to Israel and other countries in the Mediterranean Basin.

The Tamar discovery also puts an end to possible Israeli gas imports from Russia via Turkey via the proposed undersea infrastructure conduit, which would have cost $2-3 billion to build.

Yossi Levy said in response, “There were preliminary talks with Gazprom after BG Group announced that it was quitting the Tamar prospect in 2005. Gazprom was interested in the exploration, but no deal was reached.” (source: http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000426758&fid=942)

Ezekiel 38 speaks of God putting “hooks” in the jaws of Gog (Russia), drawing it down into Israel. Very interesting that Russia is already at work to secure the Mediterranean energy market. Could this be the beginning? We’ll stay on top of this story.