"On Saturday, February 28, when the current war with Iran began, I was talking to a friend - a leading player in the energy market in one of the Persian Gulf states. A siren went off in the middle of our conversation and I continued it in the safe room," says Yossi Abu, CEO of NewMed Energy, which is the largest partner in the Leviathan Israeli natural gas reservoir. Abu has widespread ties with prominent people in the Arab world.

"In past wars, I received many phone calls from friends in Arab countries telling me, 'Stay safe.' This time, I found myself calling several people to tell them to take care of themselves."

Abu says that the current war, in which Iran conducted powerful attacks against Gulf states for the first time, presents Israel with new opportunities for energy infrastructure and relations with those countries, which have found themselves in a situation similar to that of Israel vis-à-vis Iran.

In a "Globes" interview, Abu attempts to analyze the new map of interests that has emerged following the war, in which he believes that the most momentous consequences of the closing of the Strait of Hormuz are not necessarily in the oil industry. He outlines his vision for structural change in the regional energy markets, from the need to find alternatives to the maritime trade routes that have been blocked to normalization with the Persian Gulf states and energy ties with Syria and Lebanon. "The great opportunity is to make Israel a window to the Mediterranean Sea," he says.

Oil not the worst problem

We began the interview by talking about the present strangulation point in the global economy - the Strait of Hormuz. Asked how the closing of the Strait is affecting the global oil and gas market, Abu takes out a map of the Middle East and begins pointing to various countries. "In peacetime, about 25 million barrels of oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz daily. Now, when the Strait is closed, we have several solutions: Saudi Arabia's east-west pipeline and also Port Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. Furthermore, both Iranian and Omani oil is still passing through the Strait of Hormuz," he adds.

According to Abu, there is actually an alternative supply solution for about half of the oil that passes through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime, meaning that "only" about 16% of global oil production is bottled up. "American companies are making a lot of money right now out of the rise in oil prices, even though the consumer is paying more for gasoline. Products from Asia are also more expensive. If he wants, however, Donald Trump can lower the price by $10-20 by releasing oil from the US strategic reserves. At present, they are still being cautious," he explains.

Abu does not regard the upheaval in the global oil market as the worst development. "The event is far more significant in natural gas. Global liquefied natural gas production totaled 380 million tons in 2025, of which Qatar produces 77 million tons and UAE six million tons. All of this is now blocked, meaning that 20% of LNG production is locked behind the Strait of Hormuz."

When Iran took the extraordinary step of attacking Oman, which mediates between it and the US, it bombarded that country's natural gas terminals, which nevertheless are still functioning.

Abu says that the world's largest LNG consumers are in Asia - Japan, China, South Korea, India, and Taiwan - "which buy mostly from Australia and Qatar. Qatar's enormous reserves are the source of its power."

Abu notes that these numbers are for the short term, and that, under current plans, Qatar will increase its production to 140 million tons a year by 2030 - at a time when the danger to Qatar is clearer than ever.

Gas shortage could affect microchip industry

In contrast to oil, however, of which many countries possess reserves that will last for many months, "gas storage is difficult," Abu says. "Reserves vary from one to three months. In any case, the time can be measured in weeks. People do not realize how urgent this is for Taiwan, whose microchip industry is critical. A shortage of LNG is liable to affect this industry - and that will weigh heavily on the global economy, and the US economy in particular."

Is this concern generating potential for alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz?

"The war has created a race for secure energy. In the immediate future, the US will divert more LNG to Asia, rather than Europe. In the medium and long term, however, a great deal of investment will go to places with natural gas reserves that are regarded as secure. This also applies to Israel and the rest of the neighborhood; the Aphrodite gas reserve in Cyprus is becoming more important."

NewMed is one of the owners of this reserve, the bulk of which is Cypriot territorial waters and a small part of which (called Ishai) is in Israeli territorial waters. Abu is planning a floating platform there "that will be connected by a pipeline to Egypt and will supply it with eight billion cubic meters (8 BCM) a year. We have signed contracts with Egypt and Cyprus and are racing forward. We want to push for a final investment decision in the coming year and start streaming the gas in 2031." He adds, "Australia, a large gas exporter, will also profit from this, as will nuclear energy. More and more countries will produce their own nuclear energy, but this is a very long process.

"If you combine the race for secure energy and artificial intelligence (which requires electricity-hungry server farms, I.E.) large resources will be needed, "Abu points out. "Renewable energy can't provide the certainty that they need. You mustn't be absolutely dependent on renewable energy. In Turkey, for example, they had an energy crisis because of less rain, which reduced hydroelectric energy production. The supply of such energy is highly volatile, so we'll see a switch to natural gas and nuclear energy."

Abu says that this has created "an important energy triangle" consisting of the Persian Gulf states, countries like Israel and Egypt ("which are the window to the Mediterranean Sea and from there to Europe"), and Azerbaijan, an oil and gas exporter that is one of Israel's largest sources of oil. "Azerbaijan is connected to the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) via Turkey and Italy, and from there to all of Europe," Abu says. He believes that the best way to transport Qatari gas to Europe is to connect the continent to Azerbaijan via Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Turkey and from there to any destination they choose. "It can be Qatar's route abroad," he notes.

Such a route is especially critical for Qatar, which recently had to halt production of gas on its territory when the Strait of Hormuz was blocked, after its storage capacity became completely full. In addition to its especially large gas exports, this also affected many secondary industries, such as chemicals and fertilizers produced from the gas, which Qatar is currently unable to export.

The Israeli opportunity: "There will be investment from the Gulf"

Abu went on to describe what he thinks is the biggest opportunity for Israel: "We can be a window to the Mediterranean Sea, aggregating Saudi Arabian and UAE oil that will reach Eilat and then Ashkelon via the Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline. It will have to be expanded, of course. It can reach the Mediterranean Sea from there. Another route is through Egypt. They will probably need both of these, because redundancy and reliability will be critical."

According to Abu, the infrastructure for this will not be expensive; it will be "cheaper than laying a gas pipeline." Abut foresees two major energy routes from the Gulf: "One in the north for gas passing through Azerbaijan and Turkey and one in the south passing through Egypt and Israel."

On the other hand, Abu doubts the practicality of a project like the EastMed pipeline, a potential gas pipeline from Israel to Europe. "It's not economically worthwhile, because there’s such a large Egyptian market next to us. They’re hungry for gas, so exporting expensive LNG to Europe makes no sense when Egypt needs to buy LNG. Egypt is becoming a regional hub. By 2030, they will need 100 BCM a year. That's a lot of gas," he notes, emphasizing that while Europe is shrinking demographically, Egypt's population and gas consumption are growing.

LNG requires liquefying and gasification, a complicated and expensive process, and so it will always be more expensive than transporting gas by pipeline like the one between Israel and Egypt.

The deal was thwarted and renewed under American pressure

As NewMed CEO, Abu signed a huge deal with Egypt in August 2025 in which gas worth $35 billion, amounting to 22% of the Leviathan reservoir and 13% of Israel's total natural gas capacity, will be exported to Egypt. Following the deal, production capacity at Leviathan was stepped up and the gas companies became partners in the construction of additional gas pipelines. This is the largest export deal in Israel's history.

Talking to "Globes" at the time, Abu said, "The whole deal was done taking the needs of the local economy into account. 1,000 BCM of existing and proven natural gas have been discovered in Israel. Israel currently consumes 13.5 BCM annually. Taking into account current consumption and expected future growth, total consumption is projected to reach 440 BCM by 2050. We have an enormous quantity of natural gas left for export, while still serving the local economy long past 2050."

The government, however, thought otherwise. When Israel was about to issue the final export permit in a ceremony to be attended by US Secretary of Energy Christopher Wright, Israel Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Eliyahu Cohen halted the deal "until a fair price for the Israeli market is agreed."

The reason was probably the collapse of a huge deal between the Tamar gas reservoir and Israel Electric Corporation (IEC). The parties were unable to agree on the price at which Israel's largest electricity producer would buy gas for its power stations (which will affect all gas transactions in the economy). The dispute has reached the International Court of Arbitration in London. It is feared that if the gas from Leviathan is sold to Egypt and the capacity of the Karish reservoir is also exported, Tamar will remain Israel's sole supplier of gas to the local economy, leading to an increase in the relatively low electricity prices resulting from cheap Israeli gas.

As reported by "Globes", Egypt complained bitterly about the collapse of the deal, because the Israeli government intervened after the deal had already been signed. An Egyptian official said at the time, "We are angry. We are neither enemies nor friends, but business partners - because we do not see eye to eye on many issues. If Israel chooses to damage relations between the countries for internal political reasons, that is its affair. Israel is not the only market."

In the end, following negotiations between the state and the Leviathan partners, a deal was signed in December in which Leviathan undertook to supply a large quantity of gas to the local economy at fixed prices linked to domestic electricity prices.

Under Abu, NewMed is also exploring for gas in Israel. In September 2026 a seismic ship is due to conduct 3D mapping of the Block, following a number of delays caused by the war. NewMed won the exploration rights together with the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and BP.

Another winner in the tender was Leviathan partner Ratio Energies, which was due to conduct gas exploration in partnership with Italian company Eni, but the latter eventually decided to withdraw from the partnership for political reasons. Ratio is now planning gas exploration in cooperation with South Korean-owned Dana Petroleum. At the same time, the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure announced the opening of a fifth competitive procedure for gas exploration even before the exploration in the fourth procedure had taken place, but this procedure was delayed by the current war with Iran.

There is, of course, no guarantee that gas exploration will discover any actual gas. Recent drilling by NewMed off the Bulgarian coast in the Black Sea unfortunately resulted in a "dry hole" that did not contain enough gas to make its development worthwhile. "The risk in drilling is part of our industry," says Abu. "Before entering Bulgaria, we examined dozens of projects. The potential there was enormous, despite the risk. A single discovery could have been worth over €5 billion. We conducted a thorough analysis, but the project's risk-reward ratio was very worthwhile."

How is the war against Iran affecting our relations with the Gulf states?

"The oil story can be a catalyst for a new regional order in which countries like Saudi Arabia will join the Abraham Accords." And that is not all: "We could also supply gas to Syria instead of Azerbaijan, which is now supplying gas to Syria via Turkey. Even without direct commercial ties with Syria, it will be possible through a swap deal to sell 'Azerbaijani' gas to Syria.

"I can really imagine this. The interest in natural gas in the Mediterranean Sea has grown dramatically as a result of the war. I'm confident that the Gulf states will invest in natural gas in Israel. Just as we induced Mubadala Investment Company to invest in Tamar immediately after the Abraham Accords were signed and relations with UAE are excellent, and SOCAR became a partner in Block I (the gas exploration block of NewMed, SOCAR, and BP, I.E.) and in the Tamar reservoir, I believe that we will see companies from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states investing in natural gas and energy infrastructure in Israel."

"They said that the Abraham Accords were for appearances sake, but it’s a partnership"

This brings us to UAE, where Abu visits regularly. "The behavior of Abraham Accords countries in the current war has demonstrated the real strategic partnership with them beyond any doubt - especially UAE. The behavior of UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed and his strategy will be recorded in global history books. I regard him as a regional adhesive. They cooperate with Israel in everything. It was said that the Abraham Accords were for appearances sake. You see what they are doing now. You can see UAE leaders who want to safeguard the future of the region insisting on a non-nuclear Iran. This is a strategic partnership."

What are personal relationships with them like?

"They are incredible people. They have the warmth of Bedouins, but they are all graduates of the world's best universities. It's an incredible combination of intelligence and warmth. It’s amazing to see how even before the current war with Iran, the UAE government declared that it would not pay for studies in the UK because of the extremism there."

You are very active in the Arab world. How are relations there? Do you speak Arabic?

" My Arabic is poor. I speak to them mainly in English, but I know a few icebreakers in Arabic," Abu admits. Over the years, however, he has acquired a profound understanding of Arab culture and business culture: "You have to go to the night meal with them at which they end the Ramadan fast and sit an entire night with a nargila (water pipe) talking about life. In order to get to a discussion of actual business, you have to become someone they trust. Once they trust you, you can say in the middle of the meeting, 'Let's sit for half a day and close the deal.'"

Abu knows government people in various sectors and at various levels. "I have a real love for Egypt, and also for Azerbaijan and UAE," he says. "Baku has been my second home in recent months. There’s no-one like them, they’re amazing people, They’re real partners. Their outlook is so friendly and strategic and their thinking and analysis are very sharp and profound. People in UAE and Azerbaijan concentrate on doing, not showing off."

He draws attention to a distinction of which not all Israelis are aware: "UAE is more than just Dubai, which is rather synthetic and noisy. Abu Dhabi, by contrast, is classy. Despite its great wealth, there is a lot of modesty and humility there. You won't see luxury cars there. In Dubai, they’ve built an amusement park in order to make it a global city, but Abu Dhabi has more local character and presence and you can see many more locals there."

Another anecdote about the difference in business culture comes from a WhatsApp group, called "Yallah or Inshallah," in which Abu participates together with highly placed friends in the Arab world. "There's a joke in Arabic about Israelis not understanding the difference between Ya Allah and Insha’Allah," Abu explains. "Israelis make a presentation and are happy when the other side says ' Insha’Allah,' but this generally means, 'No' - that God will take care of it. I’ve been circulating in the Arab world since 2009 and it took me a long time to accumulate experience. Acquiring it takes time. It takes a year to acquire a year's experience."

A few days before the interview, Israel approved the continuation of oil production from Leviathan after it had been closed for 32 days, leaving Tamar as the sole source of gas for the local economy. Exports from Leviathan obviously also came to a halt. The result was a near-crisis in Egypt, including store lights and streetlamps being turned off. At the same time, the rise in oil prices and the blocking of Qatari gas caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz aggravated the situation.

Leviathan has already been shut down twice in the past year. Doesn't this detract from your reliability as a supplier to Egypt and Jordan?

" We’ve been supplying natural gas to Jordan and Egypt since 2020. Substantial quantities have been delivered to date with fantastic reliability. In the global industry, two interruptions are regarded as reliability. We think that they appreciate this. The Middle East has been through upheavals that no one dreamed of, especially since October 7, 2023, and relations have nevertheless become stronger. Leviathan will continue to illuminate homes in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Oman, and Cairo. They understand that we are working under regulations and that we have constraints."

The Karish reservoir, which supplies gas exclusively to the local economy, is still closed, probably due to increased threats to it and limited protection because of its distance from the shore and closeness to Lebanon.

"The potential is enormous, but the oil is the basis"

Relations between Turkey and Egypt have recently become warmer, but when we ask about this, Abu answers cautiously, "Israel has an opportunity for strategic regional change. It’s important to us to embrace the peace countries and the Abraham Accords axis and to add more countries to it with which we share interests. It is also important to try to bring in countries like Syria, where large parts of the population want peace with us, while other parts want to harm us. To the extent to which we strengthen peace seekers in Syria and Lebanon, the chance of achieving peace and a more tranquil border will increase. There will be a confluence of interests with additional countries in the near future that can lead to normalization in the long term."

Abu sums up by saying, "The strategic step is to create a window to the Mediterranean Sea for oil from UAE and Saudi Arabia. As soon as we lay such a pipeline, the oil will be only the beginning; it will be accompanied by a railway line and communications cables. This will lead to industries such as server farms. The potential is enormous, but the oil is the basis. It’s a strategic win-win situation."

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 9, 2026.

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