Less than a month after the devastating events of 7 October 2023, Israel felt emboldened enough to announce the winners of its fourth offshore bid round (OBR4), seemingly certain that awardees such as BP, Socar and Eni would not withdraw their interest despite increasingly troubling optics (MEES, 3 November 2023).
But since then, none of the winning consortia have made any moves toward developing acreage. Only one consortium has finalized its contract – a grouping of BP, Socar and Israeli company NewMed Energy at Zone I on the Lebanese and Cypriot maritime borders (MEES, 14 March 2025). Socar, the Azerbaijan state-firm, quickly expanded its footprint offshore Israel by taking an effective 10% stake at the Chevron-operated 1.1bn cfd Tamar field (MEES, 27 June 2025), but MEES understands that BP is looking to exit. (CONTINUED - 779 WORDS)
