Reports indicate that Azerbaijan has deepened its strategic partnership with Israel through a natural gas agreement, allowing for exploration in waters claimed by the occupying regime.
Azerbaijan has signed a new contract for natural gas exploration in Israeli waters, further strengthening the strategic cooperation between the two nations, according to Bloomberg.
Despite ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the Azerbaijani government maintains diplomatic ties with Israel, which is one of Azerbaijan’s largest oil buyers.
According to Israel’s Ministry of Energy, the agreement, signed by Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov and Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen, designates a consortium comprising Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, BP Plc, and Israel’s NewMed Energy LP to conduct exploratory work in a marine block located in Israel’s economic waters.
Although the consortium obtained exploration licenses in October 2023, the process was delayed due to the outbreak of a genocide war initiated by Israel in the same month.
Once the contract is finalized, the companies will conduct seismic studies over a three-year period to identify gas reserves in the region.
This development highlights Azerbaijan’s increasing energy investments in the region following SOCAR’s acquisition of a 10% stake in the Tamar gas field, one of Israel’s key energy assets, earlier this year.
Israel and Azerbaijan have long shared a mutual dependency in the energy and defense industries.
Jabbarov’s visit to occupied Jerusalem marks the first high-level contact by an Azerbaijani official since the onset of the current genocide campaign.
According to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, reported by Caliber.az, Israel imported $713 million worth of oil from Azerbaijan last year.
The new exploration licenses will pertain to an area known as Cluster I, encompassing approximately 1,700 square kilometers in the northern part of Israel’s economic waters.
Israel’s Ministry of Energy stated that this area “has been virtually unexamined in terms of natural resources in the past.”