Israeli businessman Aaron Frenkel has increased his stake in Tamar offshore gas field partner Tamar Petroleum (TASE: TMRP), sources have told “Globes.” Yesterday, in a deal outside of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) he bought a 9% stake in the company for NIS 320 million, representing NIS 40 per share. This increases his holding in the company to 16%. Tamar Petroleum holds a 18.75% stake in the Tamar field.
Frenkel’s latest move is particularly interesting because only at the beginning of the year he sold part of his holdings Tamar petroleum as part of the sale of half of his holdings in the entire Tamar reservoir (10%), to Azerbaijan state energy company SOCAR, for NIS 1.25 billion. The sale to SOCAR was completed in June, after receiving approval from the Petroleum Council and the Israel Competition Authority.
Now Frenkel is once again increasing his holdings, buying the stake from insurance and finance company Menora Mivtachim, which until now held an 11.4% stake in Tamar Petroleum, which will now drop to 2.4%.
The NIS 40 share price in the deal for Tamar Petroleum’s shares, means there was no premium on the market price, after the company’s stock has jumped 73% since the beginning of the year and the company is trading at a market value of NIS 3.5 billion.
Israel and Azerbaijan moving closer together
As well as Frenkel with a 16% stake, Tamar Petroleum’s biggest shareholders are Israeli businessman Eli Azur with a 24.9% stake worth NIS 872 million, SOCAR with a 17.9% stake worth NIS 627 million, Moti Ben-Moshe with a stake worth NIS 243 million and Menora Mivtachim with a stake worth Nis 70 million. Other partners in the Tamar field include Chevron with a 25% stake and the UAE’s Mubadala with an 11% stake.
The Tamar field is in the Mediterranean Sea 90 kilometers west of Haifa. It was discovered in 2009 and production began in early 2013. The reservoir’s current production capacity is 10.3 BCM per year and its gas reserves are estimated at 291.5 BCM. The partners in the reservoir, along with Frenkel, Tamar Petroleum, Mubadala and Chevron, are Isramco and Dor Gas. SOCAR is a state-owned energy company that manages Azerbaijan’s oil and gas industry and its offices are located in the country’s capital, Baku.
The move has a geopolitical dimension that brings Azerbaijan and Israel closer together. Frenkel built his direct position in the gas reservoir through an option deal with Mubadala Petroleum, owned by the Abu Dhabi government, which he exercised in December 2022, as well as through a purchase from the Harel insurance company and the Israel Infrastructure Fund at the end of September 2024. In Frenkel’s most recent deal, he paid about $280 million several months ago for 3.5% of the rights to the field that he purchased from the Israel Infrastructure Fund.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on September 18, 2025.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.
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