Gas pains ahead

Dar al Hayat has an article that begins to discuss the issues with the new, large natural gas fields that have been discovered or are expected to be discovered in the Mediterranean.

Briefly, gas fields have been discovered off the coasts of Egypt, Gaza ("Marine"), southern Israel ("Mary B") and northern Israel near Haifa ("Tamar.")

Chances are good that the Marine and Mary B are a shared field. Chances are also pretty good that Tamar field extends into Lebanese waters, with Lebanon technically at war with Israel with no demarcated borders - especially at sea. The Tamar field may also reach Cypriot waters.

And to make things more complicated, Turkey would assert rights over offshore Cypriot gas fields, and Syria might want to get in on the action as well.

A recent US Geological Survey indicates that the entire Levant basin might hold 227 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, as well as billions of barrels of oil.

This could get very, very dicey.