Gina Cohen
Israel’s Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources postponed the oil and gas licence exploration tender for a second time in June, giving a new deadline of November 15. The Ministry of Energy is not at fault. It gets an ‘A’ for having the courage of its convictions, for holding the tender under very difficult circumstances, and for the work, effort and professionalism put into the marketing process. Yet despite the fact that some of the world’s major companies have bid in the tenders held this year in Cyprus, Egypt and Lebanon, they decided to give Israel a wider berth. We must therefore conclude that, under the current circumstances, nothing is about to change that will entice companies to bid by the new deadline of November 15. We need to adopt a new path, as postponing the tender and adopting a ‘more of the same’ approach is unlikely to lead to different results. There are around seven pertinent reasons behind the ongoing postponements of the tender.
