The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) will buy 10% of Israel's Tamar gas field development project, Calcalist reported.
The Israeli Competition Authority has approved the sale of 10% of the project, owned by Israeli billionaire Aaron G. Frenkel.
According to the newspaper, approval from the Israeli Energy Ministry's Petroleum Council under is still needed to complete the deal.
"The antitrust permit was issued on the condition that SOCAR will not operate gas fields in areas where it already has exploration licenses in Israel," the report reads.
The Israeli Competition Authority's website still listed the agreement with SOCAR on the Tamar project as being under review as of May 5, when information on mergers and transactions was last updated.
SOCAR signed an agreement with Union Energy, wholly controlled by Aaron Frenkel, to acquire a 10% stake in the Tamar project on January 31, 2025. Tamar, one of the biggest gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea, is 90 km from Haifa.
The Tamar gas field was discovered in January 2009 and is one of Israel's main sources of gas. The field has estimated natural gas reserves of approximately 389 billion cubic meters.
