For more than thirty years, Israel and Azerbaijan have maintained close diplomatic relations, and for over two decades, Azerbaijan has been exporting crude oil and gas to Israel, meeting about 40% of Israel’s oil needs. Beyond their cooperation and the mutual give-and-take between Israel and Azerbaijan, the two countries have many collaborative ventures across various fields, such as defense, telecommunications, technology, and more.
In difficult times for Israel, such as the ongoing and escalating conflict with Hamas, the Houthis, and even Hezbollah, who occasionally launch attacks against Israeli territory, Israel can be confident in its relationship with Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan, a Shi’ite Muslim country, has not allowed Israel’s conflict to deter it from continuing to support its partner in the fight against Iran and its proxies in the Middle East. This time, the two allied nations are strengthening their ties and expanding their cooperation in the energy sector.
Azerbaijan’s supplying of crude oil and gas to Israel is achieved by using the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which starts on the Caspian Sea coast of Azerbaijan, continues through Georgia (where it connects to another gas pipeline from the Black Sea coast of Georgia) and reaches the Turkish port city of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean coast.
Collaborating with SOCAR
On March 17, Israel signed a gas exploration agreement with Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR.
According to the new agreement, a consortium was formed between three energy companies: British Petroleum (BP), Israeli NewMed Energy, and SOCAR. They will work together to explore, drill, and extract natural gas in Israel’s economic waters. SOCAR holds a 33.34% stake in the consortium and is responsible for “Area I,” located in the northern part of Israel’s economic waters.
The Azerbaijani company’s main role is to oversee gas exploration in Area I, which covers 1,700 square kilometers. According to the plan, the consortium will conduct seismic and geological surveys during the initial exploration phase, with drilling planned for the second phase based on survey results.
The three companies submitted a proposal for cooperation in finding and extracting Israeli gas in 2023. The details of the deal, including rights to search for Israeli gas, were approved in October 2023. However, due to the October 7 massacre and the ensuing Israel-Hamas War, the project had to be postponed.
THE SIGNING of the deal and the distribution of drilling licenses in recent days have reignited Azerbaijani-Israeli-British cooperation, bringing BP and SOCAR into Israel’s energy market.
In recent days, Energy Minister Eli Cohen met with an Azerbaijani delegation led by that country’s economy minister, Mikayil Jabbarov, at a ceremony for distributing exploration licenses.
The exploration licenses granted to the three energy companies are valid for an initial period of three years, during which the companies must attempt to locate gas sources within their allocated exploration area. After drilling at least one well and planning a new work program, the three companies, as part of their consortium, may apply to extend their license period by two additional years and up to a maximum of seven years.
This story is part of a larger regional energy picture. The rumors about the natural gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean are not new, and in recent years, many international energy companies have been drawn to the Mediterranean’s eastern basin.
Countries such as Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, and Israel are benefiting from energy advantages and an additional source of income for their state coffers. This is one of the most opportune times for natural gas discoveries as, since March 2022, following the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe has been seeking alternatives to Russian gas. Israel hopes to discover new gas fields that will diversify Israel’s economy and allow it to fully exploit its energy potential.
Since the first commercial deliveries from the Leviathan field in 2020, Israel has contributed to regional energy exports and helped diversify Europe’s energy sources. Israelis know this is just the beginning, as the Leviathan field is estimated to contain 623 billion cubic meters.
SOCAR’s involvement in energy exploration in Israel is not new. The energy company from the Caucasus continues its strategy of acquiring strategic assets in overseas countries to expand its production and exports, especially to Europe via Azerbaijan’s largest ally, Turkey.
The recent agreement grants the energy giant another foothold in key Israeli assets. Why “another”? On January 31, 2025, SOCAR signed an agreement with Union Energy to acquire a 10% effective stake in the Tamar gas field, one of Israel’s largest and most strategically significant offshore gas fields in the Mediterranean.
Azerbaijan and Israel’s cooperation continues to grow, both through SOCAR’s purchase of a 10% stake in the Tamar field and its activities in gas exploration in Israel’s economic waters. The two countries have bound their futures together and stand to benefit significantly from the discovery of Israeli gas. It seems that only good can come from this collaboration.
Let us only hope that no extremist Islamist group in the Middle East tries to sabotage this.
The writer is a Middle East scholar and commentator on the region.