Palestinian gas: The Black Box

What is stopping Palestinians from claiming gas-rich maritime territory that may be theirs? MEE investigates


Gas rigs visible at night off the coast from Gaza City (MEE/Mohammed Asad)


Dania Akkad
Monday 27 April 2015
Last update:
Monday 27 April 2015

Palestinians could claim 6,600 square kilometres of maritime territory - five times the amount they currently hold, an investigation by the Middle East Eye has revealed.

Stretching 200 miles (320 km) into the Mediterranean, the potential Palestinian claim goes through the heart of the Levantine Basin, which the US Energy Information Administration estimates holds six times more natural gas than the current reserves of adjacent countries.

MEE can reveal that one of the fields, Mari-B, which companies, granted with Israeli licenses, exploited and depleted in 2012, could fall squarely within the Palestinian claim. Mari-B contained 1.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas which is enough to supply Palestinians for at least 15 years.

Instead, Houston-based Noble Energy and Israeli company Delek Group sold the gas to the state-run Israel Electric Company, which, in turn, sells Palestinians 85 percent of their electricity, according to the World Bank.

in full: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestinian-gas-black-box-1617770683