Brenda Shaffer examines how Israel developed a management strategy for the major natural gas resources it discovered in 2009-2010, arguing that its initial approach of forming several inter-ministerial committees to weigh policy options before production and export began was unusual and useful, since most states start producing and exporting newly discovered energy resources without first formulating a clear strategy.
She notes that despite this unusually thorough planning process, and Israel’s exceptional attention to long-term domestic supply security, it still took the country more than five years to develop a full regulatory framework for its gas resources.
Shaffer contends that broader use of these reserves was slowed by two self-imposed, ideologically driven constraints: the government’s reluctance to get involved in building infrastructure, and its pursuit of a competitive gas market modeled on trends promoted internationally by the United States, the European Union, and international financial institutions, often without regard to whether competition actually served the public interest in a market of Israel’s size.
