Energy Minister Karine Elharrar's decision to pause offshore gas exploration for one year place could jeopardize Israel's energy security," industry insiders warned Wednesday.
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Elharrar announced the move earlier this week, saying that offshore gas exploration "can wait" while her ministry focuses on developing other renewable energy sources.
Speaking at the ninth Eilot Renewable Energy Conference held in the southern resort city of Eilat, Elharrar noted that as part of the current policy, she does not plan to pursue the standing recommendations to expand natural gas explorations in the Mediterranean Sea.
She stress the said explorations would be suspended for only one year, "2022 will be the year of renewable energy," she pledged, according to the Times of Israel.
"In the coming year, we will focus on the future, on green energy, on energy saving, and while we're doing that, we'll put to one side the issue of expanding the development of natural gas which, as we know, is a transition fuel," she said.
"In the coming year, the Energy Ministry will not adopt the conclusions of the natural gas policy review report and will not embark on the fourth stage of granting licenses for natural gas exploration."
The announcement set off a storm in the energy industry.
The Forum of Private Electricity Manufacturers in Israel warned that any suspension of offshore gas exploration "could jeopardize Israel's energy security," something that could prove disastrous in the long run.
Elharrar's decision was even more puzzling when considering that only last week, the Energy Ministry said that even under the most optimistic scenario, according to which in 20 years some 85% of Israel's energy sources will be based on solar and wind power, natural gas consumption would still be 66% higher than it is at the present day.
Forum member Chen Herzog, the chief economist at BDO Consulting, said that without sufficient preparations on Israel's part, "The energy crisis that befell Europe could also occur here.
"Not increasing conventional production capacity, the failure of renewable energy [sources] to supply power in extreme climate change, and rising demands could leave Israel without energy. What's absurd is that the policies designed to encourage renewable energy have ultimately led to an increase in coal use and a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions."
Former Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz urged Elharrar to reconsider, saying that the United States is "continuing to explore for natural gas in hundreds of areas on land and offshore, as they are in Canada and in most countries of Western Europe," regardless of the development of other energy sources.
The Association of Oil and Gas Exploration Industries in Israel issued a statement slamming the move, saying that the energy crisis in Europe was "the perfect example of the need to continue exploring for further discoveries of natural gas."
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