Abstract

Light oil was first discovered in Israel in 1955. Since the 1950s more than 500 wells have been drilled and 16 oil and gas fields have been found, both onshore and offshore. This paper lays out the history of the exploration, tectonic settings, and geologic elements and processes associated with hydrocarbons found in Israel.

Oil and gas accumulations have been investigated and categorized through a petroleum system analysis. Seven petroleum systems were identified: Meged, Helez, Dead Sea, and Hula onshore, and Yam, Tamar, and Yafo offshore. The definition of two systems, Helez and Dead Sea, is based on source-oil correlation. In the other five systems, source beds have not been identified and they are defined by geographic distribution and characteristic sets of geologic elements and processes.

Four petroleum systems; Helez, Meged, Dead Sea and Yam are oil-prone. The total amount of oil that has been produced to date is 18 MMBBL, most of this quantity is from the Helez field in the southern Coastal Plain. Three petroleum systems; Tamar, Yafo and Hula are gas-prone. The amount of recoverable reserves discovered to date in the offshore, Tamar and Yafo systems is estimated at 30 TCF. Two of the offshore gas fields, Tamar and Leviathan, are ranked among the largest gas discoveries of the decade world wide. The discovery of large gas reserves marks a turning point in Israel’s economy, and is a significant step on the way for Israel to become an energy-independent state.

Various aspects of the petroleum systems in Israel are related to different stages in the tectonic evolution of the Tethys Ocean from the Late Paleozoic to the Neogene. The Meged system is associated with the Early Mesozoic Tethyan rifting phase, the Helez and Yam systems with the Middle and Late Mesozoic passive margin, the Dead Sea system with latest Mesozoic Tethyan transgression, and the Tamar and Yafo systems with Cenozoic subsidence and contraction related to the closure of the Tethys Ocean. The analysis and description of hydrocarbon accumulation in a petroleum system’s framework may contribute to the continuous exploration efforts in Israel, as well as in other areas with similar tectonic evolution of the Tethys realm.