Israel Came Days From Running Out of Cooking Gas, State Comptroller Warns

About six months ago, Israel was only days away from an unprecedented cooking-gas shortage, after damage to domestic production and a narrow supply buffer left the country dependent on a single incoming ship. The vessel arrived in time and averted the crisis, but the episode exposed how fragile the supply system for LPG, a household staple used for cooking, hot water and business operations, has become.

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman says in a new report that Israel is not properly prepared to guarantee continuous cooking-gas supply, neither in routine conditions nor in an emergency. The report says the country may one day simply run out of cooking gas because of a chain of unresolved failures, delays and unfinished decisions.

The main vulnerability is storage. Unlike other fuels, Israel can stock only a very small amount of cooking gas, about six days of demand in summer and about three days in winter. That means a disruption of more than 72 hours could quickly lead to an actual shortage.

The problem is becoming more serious as the government plans to close the Haifa refineries in coming years. Bazan currently provides about 44 percent of Israel’s cooking-gas consumption and is a key supplier to the north, but replacement storage and import facilities in the north are delayed by disputes, regulation and ministerial inaction. Southern import options are also stuck, especially in Ashdod, where unloading and pipeline infrastructure has languished for years amid unresolved operating terms and tariff issues.

The danger nearly materialized again in the second half of 2025, when the war caused local production to drop because of technical failures, protective shutdowns due to missile threats, and maintenance work. Some shutdowns were not reported in advance to the Fuel Administration at the Energy Ministry, making real-time management difficult. The report says no shortage occurred mainly because demand was relatively low; the same events in winter could have produced a very different result. As domestic production shrinks, Israel is relying more on imports and a small number of foreign suppliers, leaving it exposed to security crises, commercial decisions or shipping-insurance problems with no immediate backup.