JERUSALEM (JTA) — A joint U.S.-Israeli group has discovered ‘significant signs’ pointing to another natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Haifa.

The Karish 1 natural gas field could hold between 80 billion and 100 billion cubic meters, or up to 2 trillion cubic feet, of natural gas, the Texas-based Noble Energy and the Israeli-owned Delek group announced on Thursday.

The discovery at the exploratory well in Israeli territorial waters is smaller than the other Israeli offshore gas fields, Tamar and Leviathan. The gas from the Tamar field is expected to meet Israel’s energy needs for the next 20 years

The discovery comes as large Israeli companies lobby to be allowed to market the gas abroad, and the government works to decide how much of the natural gas it needs to keep in the country to promote energy independence.