Lebanon may claim gas deposit found off Israel's coast

[Joanne98]

Beirut's Ministry for Energy and Water says part of natural gas field found near Haifa may be on Lebanese territorial water, plans to lobby for drill site's registration with UN authorities

Gil Feiler, Doron Peskin Published: 01.21.09, 08:12 / Israel Money

The Lebanese Ministry for Energy and Water has expressed an interest in reports of a natural gas deposit found off the Haifa coast.

Noble Energy said on Sunday that it discovered more than three trillion cubic feet of natural gas off Israel's northern shores, at the Tamar-1 drill site located 56 miles west of the Haifa Port.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3659319,00.ht...

[tekisui]

1. Uh-oh.

[Blue Meany]

2. This is rather ironic, since Israel is trying to get

the natural gas along the coast of the Gaza strip.

[Joanne98]

3. Lebanon investigating location of natgas field

BEIRUT, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Lebanon said on Wednesday it was looking into whether a natural gas find which Noble Energy said it discovered off Israel's Mediterranean coast also fell under Lebanese waters, a charge Israel denied.
A U.S.-Israeli exploration group said last week it had found large amounts of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean that are expected to meet Israeli gas demands for well over a decade.
Led by Noble Energy, the group said it found natural gas of more than 3 trillion cubic feet (88 billion cubic meters) 90 km from the Israeli northern port of Haifa.
But Lebanese authorities said it was not clear whether the basin fell only under Israel's waters.
"Noble Energy's find proves that the (Lebanese) shore is rich in gas and that there is a possibility that we have a common basin, between Lebanon and the Occupied Palestinian territories," Mohammed Kabbani, who heads a parliamentary committee which overseas energy issues, told Reuters.
Kabbani had said in a statement on Monday that he feared that Israel "can extract mounts of gas from the depths of Lebanon's territorial waters if there is a common gas basin."
"If that basin extends to Lebanese waters, then we want to warn this company from infringing on our rights," Kabbani said, adding the parliamentary committee had requested the government take action.
Energy Minister Alain Tabourian said Lebanon was in the process of registering with the United Nations the delineation of the country's exclusive economic zone waters to determine whether the gas find fell within it.
"Even if this basin is not common, there may be other common basins and we want to protect our rights," Kabbani said.
Neither official said how long this process would take.
But Delek Drilling, one of the partners in the U.S.-Israeli consortium, denied the possibility that the discovery was within Lebanon's territorial waters.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8297588