Gaza Oil (see also Gaza’s Liquefied Natural Gas)
Updated 2024-04-01
2023-12-07 Israel, Gaza, and the Struggle for Oil The world tends to see the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians as a struggle over land. Charlotte Dennett argues that the search for oil may be an even greater factor. Dennnett has an intensely personal connection with the region. Her father was a counterintelligence officer for the World War II Office of Strategic Services and the Central Intelligence Group, immediate predecessor of the CIA. His mission: protect American interests in Middle Eastern oil. He died in a mysterious plane crash. What follows is Dennett’s unique perspective on the current situation.
Why, I wondered, would Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Biden administration risk their standing in the world and ignore calls for a ceasefire? Did they have an unspoken agenda?
As a chronicler of the endless post-9/11 wars in the Middle East, I concluded that the end game was likely connected to oil and natural gas, discovered off the coast of Gaza, Israel and Lebanon in 2000 and 2010 and estimated to be worth $500 billion. The discovery promised to fuel massive development schemes involving the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.
Also at stake was the transformation of the eastern Mediterranean into a heavily militarized energy corridor that could supply Europe with its energy needs as the war in Ukraine dragged on. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-gaza-and-the-struggle-for-oil/ar-AA1l8TIo
2023-11-14 Behind Israel’s ‘end game’ for Gaza: Theft of offshore gas reserves In 1999, British Gas (BG) discovered the existence of natural gas in the Gaza Marine fields, 20 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza, at a depth of 610 meters below the surface. Further exploration by BG through two successful wells — Gaza Marine 1 and Gaza Marine 2 — determined the field could contain up to 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. (EgyptOil-Gas.com, April 5, 2018)
The Palestinian Authority was “granted” the right to exercise sovereignty over its own maritime territory by the Oslo Accords in 1995. Four years later, following the findings of the offshore natural gas, the PA gave the international consortium BG a 25-year, 90% stake in a license to explore, develop any discovered fields, and install the required infrastructure. Since that time Israel has consistently blocked this development.
In 2002, the PA approved BG’s proposals to construct a pipeline to a processing facility in Gaza. However, the Israeli state delayed this development, arguing that the pipeline should run to an Israeli-controlled port, and that Palestinians would have to supply Gaza Marine surplus fuel to Israel at far below market price.
When Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections in Gaza in 2007, Israel established a militarized naval blockade, prohibiting further offshore development. Around the same time, Yam Thetis, an Israeli gas consortium, challenged the awarding of the contract to BG, further delaying the process.
In December 2008, in total contravention of international laws, Israel declared sovereignty over the Gaza Marine area, and BG closed its offices in Tel Aviv. https://www.workers.org/2023/11/74864/?
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