Usually microscopic electrostatic field around ions is neglected when the ionization energy is concerned. The ionization energy is considered to be equal to that of a separate atom (molecule). Here the energy of the electrostatic field around ions is taken into account. It is shown that the energy of this field contributes to decrease in the effective ionization energy. The effective ionization energy may turn to zero at some critical concentration of delocalized electrons. This leads to a complete ionization of the atoms (molecules). Concrete calculations were performed for oxygen molecular gas.