Abstract Light oil was first discovered in Israel in 1955. Since the 1950s more than 500 wells have been drilled and 16 oil and gas fields have been found, both onshore and offshore. This paper lays out the history of the exploration, tectonic settings, and geologic elements and processes associated with hydrocarbons found in Israel.

Abstract Recent drilling activity in the Levant Margin offshore Israel has resulted in the discovery of up to 25 TCF of gas. As exploration efforts continue, the previously under-explored Levant Margin is revealed as one of the most prolific petroleum provinces of the Mediterranean region. Study of regional seismic data show that this margin evolved in three main tectonic phases: Permian to Early Jurassic riffing, middle Jurassic to middle Cretaceous passive margin and late Cretaceous to Tertiary inversion and partial subsidence. Well results indicate the existence of both biogenic and thermogenic petroleum systems. Dry-gas found in Mari-B, Tamar, Leviathan, and several smaller fields suggests basin-wide charge of reservoirs containing bacterial gas, likely originated in Late Tertiary, organic-rich deep-marine shale. Two play types are associated with the biogenic gas system: (A) the Tamar play includes lower Miocene, deep-water turbidite sands in upper Miocene compressional structures; and (B) the Yafo play includes lower Pliocene turbidites in basin-floor fans and mobilized sand mounds. The existence of thermogenic petroleum systems in the Levant Margin is indicated by significant, highgrade oil shows found in several wells, although commercial production of these oils has not yet been established. Potential source rocks are organic-rich carbonates of mid-Triassic, mid-Jurassic, late Cretaceous, and early Tertiary age. Two types of plays are considered: (A) Jurassic, fractured shallow-marine carbonates in compressional structures located near the basin margin; and (B) Cretaceous, deep-water turbidite sands found in the deep, central part of the basin. Both play types are planned to be soon tested by drilling.

Abstract Multi-channel seismic reflection data and borehole information were used to study the structure and stratigraphy of the Levantine basin, offshore Israel. A new, 2D seismic survey that covers the southeastern Mediterranean Sea from the Israeli coast to the Eratosthenes Seamount shows the entire Phanerozoic sedimentary fill down to a depth of 14–16 km. The basin-fill is subdivided into six seismo-stratigraphic units interpreted as low-order, major depositional cycles (supersequences A–F). Correlation and mapping of these units allowed an investigation of the geological history of the basin and the analysis of two important tectonic phases: Neotethyan rifting, and Syrian Arc inversion and contraction. The Neotethyan rifting phase is recorded by the strata of supersequences A and B. Faulting took place during the Anisian (Mid-Triassic), continued through the Liassic and ceased during the Mid-Jurassic. The basin opened in a NW–SE direction, between the Eratosthenes Seamount and the Levant margin of the Arabian Massif, at an angle of about 30° to the present-day shoreline. No indications for sea-floor spreading were found in the present study. Late Triassic to Liassic volcanic rocks of assumed intraplate origin accumulated in the northeastern part of the basin. It is hypothesized that the basin originated as an intracontinental rift associated with the nucleation of an oceanic spreading centre, but reached only an early magmatic phase. An inversion and contraction phase, associated with closing of the Neotethyan ocean system, is recorded by supersequences C and D. The contractional structures of the Syrian Arc extend in a wide and elevated fold belt along the eastern edge of the deep-marine basin. These structures were formed by the inversion of pre-existing normal faults. The folding occurred in several pulses starting in the Senonian and ending in the Miocene. The western limit of the main fold belt, located 50–70 km west of the coastline, is defined by a transition in crustal properties. Supersequences E and F record the Late Cenozoic history of the basin. A Messinian, evaporitic basin was limited to the east by the elevated and uplifted Syrian Arc fold belt composed of older, Oligocene to Mid-Miocene strata. During highstand episodes, the Messinian evaporites were deposited on the entire slope and within canyons incised into the shelf. High sedimentation rates of Nilotic and locally derived sediments during the Plio-Pleistocene resulted in the development of extensive submarine deltas and basinward progradation of the Levant shelf break.