Israeli businessman Aaron Frenkel has further increased his stake in Tamar offshore gas field partner Tamar Petroleum (TASE: TMRP). Yesterday he purchased an additional 3.5% of shares in the company for NIS 126 million at NIS 40 per share. Sources tell “Globes” that Menora Mivtachim (TASE: MMHD) sold its 1.5% stake for NIS 53 million, while private individuals sold shares for NIS 73 million.
Over the past two weeks, Frenkel has bought Tamar Petroleum shares worth NIS 498 million at NIS 40 per share. As “Globes” revealed, Frenkel bought shares for NIS 372 million from Menora Mivtachim two weeks ago in two tranches, representing 10.5% of Tamar Petroleum.
At the same time, Frenkel has given Azerbaijan state energy company SOCAR, who he initially brought to invest in the company, a two-month option to purchase half of the shares he has now purchased, at the same price. Following yesterday’s purchase, this means that if SOCAR exercises the option, it will increase its holding in Tamar Petroleum to 24.9%, while Frenkel will hold 15.8% of the company’s shares. In other words, SOCAR will reach the ceiling of its holding in the company without making a purchase offer, which means Frenkel will not continue to make additional purchases now, at least before SOCAR exercises its option.
Currently, Frankel alone holds 10.8% of the entire Tamar gas field (without taking into account the sale option to Socar). Together with SOCAR, their holding in the entire Tamar gas field is 21%. Through Union Energy, Frenkel and SOCAR together hold 14.5%, and through Tamar Petroleum they hold another 6.5% of the gas field. Frenkel and SOCAR together own almost 40% of the shares of Tamar Petroleum (compared to Eli Azur’s 24.9%), even though officially they are not partners in decision-making and there is no official business relationship between them. Nevertheless, Frenkel now effectively owns 31% of the entire Tamar gas field.
A move that brings Israel and Azerbaijan closer together
Frenkel’s latest moves are especially intriguing because only at the start of 2025 he made an opposite move, by selling part of his holdings in Tamar Petroleum as part of the sale of half of his holdings in the entire Tamar gas field (10%), to SOCAR, for NIS 1.25 billion, a deal first revealed by “Globes” at the beginning of the year.
The sale to SOCAR was completed in June, after receiving approval from the Israel Petroleum Council and the Israel Competition Authority. These deals come after Tamar Petroleum’s share price has jumped 73% since the beginning of the year.
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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.
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 29, 2025.
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