Yuval Steinitz

Israel has invited bids for 24 new offshore oil-and-gas exploration licenses it hopes will bring more major finds in the Mediterranean as it strives to become an energy exporter. "We are offering for exploration half of our economic waters in 24 blocks," Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said, announcing the offer which closes on April 21.

There are huge energy opportunities in the Eastern Mediterranean that will create huge benefits for many countries, said Richard L. Morningstar, the founding director and chairman of the Global Energy Center at the Atlantic Council and the secretary of state's former special envoy for Eurasian energy.

The recent week-long World Energy Congress in Istanbul had two major bookends. On the very first day, Turkey and Russia signed the much-awaited the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline agreement and announced that they would deepen energy cooperation.

The United States strongly supports a proposal to transport Israeli gas to Europe via Turkey with the side aim of ensuring peace and stability in the Middle East, John Bass, the U.S. ambassador to Ankara, told Anadolu Agency on Oct. 13.      

Israel and Turkey have discussed the possibility of building a natural gas pipeline between the two countries, Israel's energy minister said on Oct. 13, in the first Israeli ministerial visit to Turkey since relations came to a halt in 2010. 

An Israeli minister is set to visit Turkey on Oct. 13, the first ministerial level meeting since relations came to a halt in 2010 after Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. 

Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz is expected to visit Turkey on Oct. 13, the Israeli Embassy in Ankara said in a written statement on Oct. 10. 

A senior Israeli government minister is due to visit Turkey this week in the first such trip since the the two countries normalized relations after a six-year crisis over Israel's deadly storming of a Gaza-bound ship, an official said.

Greece, Greek Cyprus and Israel said on Sept. 28 they would pursue ways of channeling east Mediterranean gas to Europe via a pipeline to Greece.With significant finds reported in the past decade, Israel and to a lesser extent Greek Cyprus are thought to be sitting on vast quantities of natural gas wealth, but have yet to come up with concrete plans on how to export it.

Israel is looking to exploit its substantial natural gas reserves with two potential pipeline projects to Turkey and Greece, its Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz announced Feb. 7.

The United States and Britain have monitored secret sorties and communications by Israel's air force in a hacking operation dating back to 1998, according to documents attributed to leaks by former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.