JERUSALEM, April 14 (UPI) -- Russian gas explorers have approached the Israeli government regarding possible offshore exploration activity, Israeli ministers said.
A delegation from Russian energy giant Gazprom arrived in Israel to meet with government ministers regarding offshore activity, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reports.
Gazprom officials met with Israeli Infrastructure Minister Yaakov Mimran to discuss possible work in the Mira and Sarah offshore gas fields.
Gazprom, Haaretz adds, expressed interest in the past in working as the operator in several Israeli oil and gas fields. Work in Israel could include gas transits from Turkey, the report added.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in February, however, said his country was losing interest in Russian gas because of offshore developments closer to home.
"We discovered very large deposits of gas on the shore of the sea close to Israel, very large," he said. "So, whereas we had a very clear interest before in getting Russian gas, right now we are less enthusiastic because we simply found gas."
A U.S.-Israeli team announced recently it discovered more than 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in deposits about 55 miles off the coast of Haifa.
