The Ministry of Energy

The Ministry of Energy is the governmental body responsible for the supply of energy and management of natural resources of the State of Israel. The main objectives of the Ministry are to regulate and manage the supply of electricity, liquid fuels, natural gas, water, energy conservation, exploration and production of Oil and Gas, minerals and ore excavation and more. Through its professional units and dedicated staff the Ministry supervises these areas and acts to ensure an adequate supply of energy and water during peacetime as well as periods of emergency.

Israel is a developed country with rapidly growing population, advanced industry and diversified economy. The Ministry is facing the challenge of supporting the State's economic growth with modern and efficient infrastructure systems and the provision of stable and secure sources of energy, while balancing between suppliers and consumers under environmental and social constraints. This challenge is met through prudent strategic, economic and technical planning, support of R&D activities and cooperation with other ministries and regulatory bodies, international organizations and academia.  

The recent 'Gas Revolution' of Israel, associated with the large quantities of natural gas discovered during the last decade, provides many benefits and opportunities. Rapid development of the offshore discoveries allowed a transition of our energy sector from coal and liquid fuels to cleaner and low-priced natural gas. Already, more than 60% of Israel's electric supply is generated from gas. The Ministry is planning to expand the use of gas in the country by shutting-down 4 more coal-based electricity generation units and by promoting the transition to gas and electricity powered vehicles. 

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The Natural Gas and Oil Department​

The Natural Resources Administration (NRA) is the entity within the Ministry that regulates the exploitation of natural resources in Israel.  It includes two professional units: The Natural Gas and Oil Department that manages oil and gas and The Mines and Quarries Unit that manages industrial minerals and ores. The department acts in accordance with the Petroleum Law and its various regulations and guidelines. Its functions include granting of petroleum rights and supervising the activities within these rights.  The focus of the department is exploration and production of hydrocarbons while the Gas Authority and the Fuel Administration within the Ministry, regulate the transportation and distribution of gas and oil to the markets. The head of the department is the Petroleum Commissioner and it includes several departments; Engineering and Safety, Geology and Geophysics, Environment, Economics and Regulation .The department acts as a professional advisory bod​y to the Minister of Energy and to various governmental units within and outside the Ministry in all matters related to the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. 

One of the main activities of the Natural Gas and Oil Department is managing and archiving data and information submitted by the operating O&G companies, in accordance with the Petroleum Law. Such information includes all the scope of activities in petroleum rights such as seismic, log and other geophysical data, geological, drilling, engineering, and environmental data and reports, rock cuttings and core samples etc. These data are kept either within the Ministry or in two of its research facilities: The Geophysical Institute and the Geological Survey of Israel. Since early 2017 the department is in the process of creating a National Data Repository (NDR) for all its data types as well as for managing various regulatory activities. The NDR, being built around Schlumberger's ProSource E&P data delivery system, will become operational in early 2019 and will allow easy managing, querying and retrieval of data for both the ministry's staff and the public.