Canada and Israel signed a new energy cooperation agreement, Ynet has learned. The deal was inked during Canadian Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver's visit to Israel last week. The agreement will allow Jerusalem and Ottawa to boost resource development ties and launch several renewable energy research projects. The deal represents "tremendous opportunities for Canada and Israel to cooperate more closely on energy issues," Canada's Financial Post quoted Oliver as saying. Oliver met with Water and Energy Minister Uzi Landau and the two discussed how Canada could help Israel develop its recently discovered massive oil and gas deposits. "Large underground oil shale formations have been discovered in Israel, its vast potential is currently being explored, and grounds are being prepared for an expansion of activities," the Canadian minister's statement said. The World Energy Council believes that the recent oil and gas deposits found in Israel's coastal plains is one of the largest in the world. If estimates of the basin containing up to 250 billion barrels of shale oil prove accurate, Israel will become one of the world's top-three countries in shale oil resources, behind just the United States and China, the report said. Paul Duchesne, a spokesperson for Natural Resources Canada, said that the new agreement "builds on 15 years of strong commercial relations and we hopes it will further increase bilateral trade with Israel in the energy sector." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter