Israel's Energy Ministry Has Declared the Yishai License a "Discovery"

Israel's Energy Ministry last week formally declared the Yishai license as a "natural gas discovery". The Yishai license borders with Aphrodite, the 4 trillion cubic feet gas field in Cyprus's block 12, and is also close to the Israeli gas field Leviathan. The declaration of the Energy Ministry is a formal claim by Israel to a yet undecided portion of Aphrodite's gas reserves. That amount will be decided in the continued negotiations between Israel and Cyprus on a proposed unitisation agreement.

The Yishai  licence is held by a group of Israeli investors, among them billionaire Beni Steinmetz (42.5%), businessman Teddi Sagi (42.5%), Hizdamnut Israelit (10%), and Norwegian operator ARG (5%).

Exploration drilling on the Yishai was conducted in 2012, and although the partners claimed it to be a "discovery", the recoverable natural gas reserves that were found were negligible and didn't justify independent development. However the proximity to the Aphrodite field has caused the investors, as well as the Israeli government, to explore the possibility of gas penetration from Aphrodite to Yishai.

The signing of the unitisation agreement between Israel and Cyprus have been delayed on several occasions as both countries disagree on the exact distribution of the proceeds from the Aphrodite field.