Israel’s gas production in January-June increased by 22% compared to the same period a year earlier. The country is actively preparing to increase oil and gas supplies to Europe.

Production for the period was 10.85 billion cubic meters, according to a report by the Ministry of Energy. Most of the total came from the Tamar and Leviathan fields in the eastern Mediterranean.

Gas exports to Israel’s neighboring countries jumped 35% to 4.59 billion cubic meters in the first half of the year.

In June, Israel signed a memorandum with Egypt and the European Union aimed at boosting regional gas production and exports. According to the parties’ plan, Israeli gas will be supplied to Egypt, which already accounts for a significant part of the country’s supplies, and then the energy resource will be re-exported to EU countries.

Initially, gas supplies from Israel to Europe are expected to be small. But cooperation has the potential to grow as production in Israel increases.

Meanwhile, the amount of royalties paid by production companies to the state in the first half of the year increased 1.5 times to 829 million shekels ($253 million).

Earlier we reported that in Europe we expect the drought to extend for another three months.