State comptroller: Israel relies heavily on natural gas but has no onshore reservoir

Israel has no onshore natural gas storage reservoir, even though over 40 percent of its energy needs and 70% of its electricity requirements are met by this fossil fuel, according to a state comptroller report on the energy sector’s readiness for emergencies.

The report says the audit revealed “critical vulnerabilities” regarding Israel’s primary energy source.

“Unlike other industrialized nations examined, such as Germany, France, and Japan, Israel possesses no strategic natural gas storage reservoir,” the document says. “This is particularly concerning given that these countries rely on natural gas as a primary energy source to a lesser extent than Israel does.”

The report also lambasts inter-ministerial wrangling for delaying the regulations needed for securing emergency fuel inventories and for complicating access to land used for the construction and maintenance of underground fuel infrastructure.

Disagreements among the Defense, Energy, and Finance ministries also meant no decisions were made on the recommendations of a committee that handled the stockpile of emergency fuel distillate, the report says.

Only parts of the report are published following a Knesset State Control Subcommittee decision that said revealing the entire contents could compromise national security.

The audit was carried out between August 2024 and April 2025.