Natural Gas Issues Provide Hope And Conflict In The Eastern Mediterranean

Natural Gas Issues Provide Hope And Conflict In The Eastern Mediterranean

Pipeline in industrial district With energy markets already in tumult partly because of events in Ukraine and Iran, not to mention the OPEC production cut, another area of the world is now being convulsed by energy issues, with the prospect of natural gas providing both hope and conflict in an unsettled region. That area is the Eastern Mediterranean. The first flash point is the area to the west of the Israel-Lebanon maritime border. Two natural gas fields, the Karish and the Qanaa, have been discovered which the parties would like to develop, if only they could determine who owns what portions of the gas based on where, exactly, it is located. The Karish field appears to be within Israeli waters, while the Qanaa field straddles the claims of both countries. Of course, the countries have been technically at war since Israel's founding in 1948, and no real border has ever been agreed to by either country. Further complicating the matter is that, over the last forty years, Lebanon has become home to the Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist group known as Hezbollah, who makes no secret of its hatred of and desire literally to destroy Israel. Notwithstanding, for months, American mediator Amos