"As soon as we are going to reopen these economic waters for further exploration, Russian companies are invited to join," Steinitz said on the sidelines of the IHS CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, Texas on Wednesday.
Steinitz announced in November that Israel plans to reopen its economic zone in the Mediterranean for oil and gas exploration.
The minister told Sputnik on Wednesday that the only companies that are not allowed to compete no, are the companies that already have license.
"We want diversity," he explained. "But the market is open, and of course Russian gas and oil companies are invited to come."
In August, the Israeli government approved a blueprint for increasing the amount of natural gas production from the major gas fields off the country's Mediterranean coast, including from the Tamar natural gas field, as well as the Leviathan field, local media reported.
Currently, the Leviathan gas field, first drilled in 2011, is one of the largest young gas reserves in the world. According to the US Geological Survey, Leviathan’s volume of undiscovered reserves amounts to some 3,450 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.
