Gaza Marine Gas Field
The Basin's Oldest Undeveloped Field
Discovered by BG Group in 2000 — nine years before Tamar — Gaza Marine holds roughly 1 tcf about 36 km off the Gaza coast. A quarter-century later it remains the Eastern Mediterranean's longest-stranded discovery.
Overview
Gaza Marine was found in 2000 by BG Group in about 600 m of water — the first significant gas discovery in the Levantine Basin, made nearly a decade before Tamar proved the deepwater play. The field holds an estimated 1 tcf, enough to matter greatly for Palestinian energy needs though small by later regional standards.
Development has been announced and shelved repeatedly across twenty-five years, blocked at different times by questions of jurisdiction, security, commercial terms and the broader Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Rights currently sit with the Palestine Investment Fund and Consolidated Contractors Company; a preliminary Israeli approval for development in June 2023, with Egyptian involvement envisaged, was overtaken by the war that began that October.
Gaza Marine stands as the basin's cautionary tale: geology alone does not produce gas. Every producing field in the Eastern Mediterranean — Tamar, Leviathan, Zohr, Karish — needed a stable political and commercial framework as much as a reservoir, and Cyprus's own seventeen-year path from Aphrodite's discovery to a sanctioned development underlines the same lesson.
Updated July 2026 · Sources: trade press, public records
Frequently Asked Questions
Why has Gaza Marine never been developed?
Despite being discovered in 2000 and technically straightforward — ~1 tcf in about 600 m of water, 36 km offshore — development has been repeatedly blocked by disputes over jurisdiction, security concerns, commercial terms and the wider conflict. A preliminary Israeli approval in June 2023 was overtaken by the war that began in October 2023.
Who owns the rights to Gaza Marine?
The rights are held by the Palestine Investment Fund together with Consolidated Contractors Company, following BG Group's long tenure as the original licence holder. Development scenarios discussed in recent years have involved Egyptian technical participation.