The new committee will also be tasked to look for other alternative providers, said a spokeswoman for national infrastructure minister Eliezer Sandberg.

"The minister supports bringing in Russian giant Gazprom as Israel’s fourth natural gas supplier," she said.

Israel needs to find additional suppliers of gas. The country currently has only one actual contracted supplier, the Yam Thetis consortium, which has a long-term contract with the Israel Electric Corp.

IEC is also negotiating a contract with Egyptian company Eastern Mediterranean Gas (EMG) to supply $2 billion worth of natural gas over 15 years.

British Gas is supposed to be the third supplier. But British Gas has not yet begun deliveries from its large natural gas fields offshore from Gaza, while it searches for customers for all the reserves, estimated at several billion dollars.

The feasibility study will be completed by March. The committee will look into various proposals including constructing a gas pipeline from Turkey to Israel and shipping LNG from Russia. Russia is currently Israel's largest supplier of crude oil, accounting for over 80% of local imports.