28 March 2017
John Reed in Jerusalem and Erika Solomon in Beirut
Row over wedge of Mediterranean Sea casts shadow over oil and gas tenders
An Israeli attempt to establish sovereignty over a disputed area of the Mediterranean has angered Lebanon and put the two countries at odds when both are trying to attract foreign investors in oil and gas.
The disagreement over the maritime border comes at a time of rising tensions between Israel and Hizbollah, the Lebanese militant group, and serves as a reminder of regional geopolitical risk as both Israel and Lebanon — two enemy states — want to secure multibillion-dollar energy investments.
The dispute stretches back years, but has burst into the open in recent days after it was revealed that the Israeli government plans to propose a “maritime areas law” that would seek to establish Israel’s sovereignty over the disputed area that both countries claim as part of their territorial waters.
23 Mar, 2017 11:24
Nati Yefet
Lebanese parliament spokesman Nabih Berri said that Israel's proposed law on the energy-rich disputed waters could trigger a war.
The speaker of the Lebanese parliament Nabih Berri claims that the maritime zone law that Israel is formulating, and includes declaring some 860 square kilometers of disputed waters as Israeli territory, could trigger a war between the countries, reports the Lebanese newspaper "Al Joumhouria."
Berri said, "This is a new assault by Israel on Lebanese sovereignty. What has been revealed by Israeli media was not arbitrary, but rather reveals a path taken by Israel in a bid to control Lebanon's gas and oil wealth within Lebanese economic borders.”
“Anyway, if the Israeli disposition is correct, which I tend to believe, it is tantamount to a war sparked by Israel. It is another maritime Shebaa Farms Conflict which opens the situation to many dangerous possibilities."
21 Mar, 2017 12:07
Amiram Barkat
The recent escalation in tensions over offshore gas tenders was probably a deliberate step by Hezbollah.
A military conflict between Israel and one of its neighbors over control of marine areas is becoming increasing likely as the dispute between Israel and Lebanon over the maritime border heats up. The recent escalation was probably a deliberate step by Hezbollah, which wants to make the maritime border dispute into a Shebaa Farms - the Lebanese name for the territory on Har Dov that Hezbollah says belongs to Lebanon. Will this be the first natural gas war in this stricken corner of the Middle East?
The maritime border is formally different from a land border, because it does not border Israeli territory; it borders an area in which Israel claims exclusive economic rights. Actually Israeli naval ships are patrolling along the maritime border, to be joined by the surface warships ordered from the German shipyards in the affair now being investigated, which involves the prime minister's lawyer.
18/07/2016, 18:50, Hedy Cohen
The Lebanese press reports that Lebanon will open its waters for new oil and gas exploration permits. One of the permits Lebanon intends to issue is still being contested by Israel.
In March 2013, Lebanon initiated a preliminary vetting process for gas companies which want to operate in the country. 12 international operators have passed this stage as well as 34 more non-operator firms. While Lebanon intended to provide ten offshore permits, the state's regulatory and political instability has led to delays with their issuing.
A source with connections in Lebanon's Ministry of Energy and Water told "Globes" that the discovery of Egypt's gas fields last year, as well as the Israel-Turkey reconciliation agreement (expected to promote a gas deal between the states), has led the ministry to push forward for an early publication of the permits during the last two weeks.
10/31/2013
A seismic vessel is pictured off the coast of Lebanon on September 24, 2012. Seismic surveys of Mediterranean waters off Lebanon's southern coast suggest they contain 12 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, Energy and Water Minister Gebran Bassil said. (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)
This week, Lebanon’sEnergy Minister Gebran Bassil announced that his country’s offshore gas potential could end up being even more plentiful than first announced, telling Reuters that “under a probability of 50 percent, for almost 45 percent of our waters has reached 95.9 trillion cubic feet of gas and 865 million barrels of oil.” Bassil’s comments present a rosier assessment than earlier studies. However, they shouldn’t be confused with actual progress when it comes to exploiting Lebanon’s claims to the new-found Eastern Mediterranean offshore bonanza. Instead, the new findings highlight just how much Beirut is missing out on due to a lengthy list of political and fiscal challenges, most notably a political paralysis that has frozen the exploration efforts in place for much of the year.
