With US blessing, Tamar gas deal strengthens Israel-Azerbaijan alliance
An Azerbaijani company buying stake in Israeli offshore gas field Tamar is a part of President Trump's policy of strengthening economic stability in the Middle East through strategic investments

The US Chevron Company, known for its very good relations with US President Donald Trump, gave its blessing over the weekend for a deal that strengthens the strategic alliance between Israel and Azerbaijan: SOCAR (Azerbaijan State Oil Company) is buying a 10 percent stake in the Israeli offshore gas field Tamar.
Chevron is the major stakeholder in the Tamar reservoir, located in the Mediterranean Sea, 56 miles from Haifa. It is also the only company that can operate the rig, but now SOCAR will be the second company. According to Globes, this investment by SOCAR is a part of President Trump's policy of strengthening economic stability in the Middle East through strategic investments, especially in the energy sector, and it will help leverage strategic cooperation in a variety of fields between Israel and Azerbaijan.
It must be noted that the seller, Aaron Frenkel, built his direct position in the Tamar gas field through an option transaction with Mubadala Petroleum, owned by the Abu Dhabi government. In his words, "This is an investment that was created as part of the response to the Abraham Accords. I entered into it as a result of the good relations I have in Abu Dhabi and the UAE." Thus, acquiring Frenkel’s stake brings Azerbaijan closer to the Abraham Accords.
About three months ago, the US analytical community began circulating the idea of adding Azerbaijan to the Accords, a sentiment that also resonated in Israel. For over three decades, relations between Jerusalem and Baku flourished despite anything. Azerbaijan not just maintained but upgraded strategic ties since the Hamas atrocities of October 7, 2023, while also safeguarding the well-being of its own Jewish communities. It seems proper that the Accords will include not only the countries that were previously hostile towards Israel and received financial and political benefits from the US for changing their stance, but also those who were friendly from the very beginning.
In its recent research paper, the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies noted that Azerbaijan has quietly facilitated Israel's relations with Gulf states and moderate Muslim countries. Meetings in Baku between Israelis and senior figures from the Arab world took place years before the Abraham Accords. After the Accords, Baku became one of the first venues for establishing contacts between Israeli and UAE diplomats.
The recent meeting between the Azerbaijani and Israeli presidents in Davos, Baku’s attempts to normalize Turkey-Israel relations, and the signing of the MoU between Azerbaijan's Innovation and Digital Development Agency and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to establish a Center of Excellence (four months after the IAI launched its first innovation center in the US) are indirectly confirming the rumors that the issue of changing US policy towards Azerbaijan will be one of the issues in the upcoming discussions between President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.