[Sustain] Natural Gas Fields Off Coast Of Gaza

Eric Brooks brookse32 at aim.com
Sun Jan 11 16:27:52 PST 2009 

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11680 
<http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11680>

War and Natural Gas: The Israeli Invasion and Gaza's Offshore Gas Fields

by Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research <http://www.globalresearch.ca>, January 8, 2009


/Email this article to a friend/ 
<javascript:sendarticle('sendEmailLink', 'War and Natural Gas: The 
Israeli Invasion and Gaza`s Offshore Gas Fields');>
/Print this article/ <javascript:printarticle(11680);>


	
	StumbleUpon Submit 
<http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.globalresearch.ca%2Findex.php%3Fcontext%3Dva%26aid%3D11680> 
	 


The military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct 
relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves. 

This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are extensive gas 
reserves off the Gaza coastline. 

British Gas (BG Group) 
<http://www.bg-group.com/OurBusiness/WhereWeOperate/Pages/pgIsraelandAreasofPalestinianAuthority.aspx> 
and its partner, the Athens based Consolidated Contractors International 
Company <http://www.ccc.gr/> (CCC) owned by Lebanon's Sabbagh and Koury 
families, were granted oil and gas exploration rights in a 25 year 
agreement signed in November 1999 with the Palestinian Authority. 

The rights to the offshore gas field are respectively British Gas (60 
percent); Consolidated Contractors (CCC) (30 percent); and the 
Investment Fund of the Palestinian Authority (10 percent). (Haaretz, 
October 21,  2007). 

The PA-BG-CCC agreement includes field development and the construction 
of a gas pipeline.(Middle East Economic Digest, Jan 5, 2001). 

The BG licence covers the entire Gazan offshore marine area, which is 
contiguous to several Israeli offshore gas facilities. (See Map below). 
It should be noted that 60 percent of the gas reserves along the 
Gaza-Israel coastline belong to Palestine.  

The BG Group drilled two wells in 2000: *Gaza Marine-1 and Gaza 
Marine-2. *Reserves are estimated by British Gas to be of the order of 
1.4 trillion cubic feet, valued at approximately 4 billion dollars. 
These are the figures made public by British Gas. The size of 
Palestine's gas reserves could be much larger. 


Map 1

Map 2

*Who Owns the Gas Fields*

The issue of sovereignty over Gaza's gas fields is crucial. From a legal 
standpoint, the gas reserves belong to Palestine. 

The death of Yasser Arafat, the election of the Hamas government and the 
ruin of the Palestinian Authority have enabled Israel to establish /de 
facto/ control over Gaza's offshore gas reserves. 

British Gas (BG Group) has been dealing with the Tel Aviv government. In 
turn, the Hamas government has been bypassed in regards to exploration 
and development rights over the gas fields. 

The election of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001 was a major turning 
point. Palestine's sovereignty over the offshore gas fields was 
challenged in the Israeli Supreme Court. Sharon stated unequivocally 
that "Israel would never buy gas from Palestine" intimating that Gaza's 
offshore gas reserves belong to Israel. 

In 2003, Ariel Sharon, vetoed an initial deal, which would allow British 
Gas to supply Israel with natural gas from Gaza's offshore wells. (The 
Independent, August 19, 2003) 

The election victory of Hamas in 2006 was conducive to the demise of the 
Palestinian Authority, which became confined to the West Bank, under the 
proxy regime of Mahmoud Abbas.  

In 2006, British Gas "was close to signing a deal to pump the gas to 
Egypt." (Times, May, 23, 2007). According to reports, British Prime 
Minister Tony Blair intervened on behalf of Israel with a view to 
shunting the agreement with Egypt. 

The following year, in May 2007, the Israeli Cabinet approved a proposal 
by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert  "to buy gas from the Palestinian 
Authority." The proposed contract was for $4 billion, with profits of 
the order of $2 billion of which one billion was to go the Palestinians. 

Tel Aviv, however, had no intention on sharing the revenues with 
Palestine. An Israeli team of negotiators was set up by the Israeli 
Cabinet to thrash out a deal with the BG Group, bypassing both the Hamas 
government and the Palestinian Authority:   

    "*Israeli defence authorities want the Palestinians to be paid in
    goods and services and insist that no money go to the
    Hamas-controlled Government*." (Ibid, emphasis added)

The objective was essentially to nullify the contract signed in 1999 
between the BG Group and the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat. 

Under the proposed 2007 agreement with BG, Palestinian gas from Gaza's 
offshore wells was to be channeled by an undersea pipeline to the 
Israeli seaport of Ashkelon, thereby transferring control over the sale 
of the natural gas to Israel. 

The deal fell through. The negotiations were suspended:

     "Mossad Chief Meir Dagan opposed the transaction on security
    grounds, that the proceeds would fund terror". (Member of Knesset
    Gilad Erdan, Address to the Knesset on "The Intention of Deputy
    Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Purchase Gas from the Palestinians
    When Payment Will Serve Hamas," March 1, 2006, quoted in Lt. Gen.
    (ret.) Moshe Yaalon, Does the Prospective Purchase of British Gas
    from Gaza's Coastal Waters Threaten Israel's National Security?
    <http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=283&PID=1845&IID=1896> Jerusalem
    Center for Public Affairs, October 2007)

Israel's intent was to foreclose the possibility that royalties be paid 
to the Palestinians. In December 2007, The BG Group withdrew from the 
negotiations with Israel and in January 2008 they closed their office in 
Israel.(BG website 
<http://www.bg-group.com/OurBusiness/WhereWeOperate/Pages/pgIsraelandAreasofPalestinianAuthority.aspx>). 

*Invasion Plan on The Drawing Board*

The invasion plan of the Gaza Strip under "Operation Cast Lead" was set 
in motion in June 2008, according to Israeli military sources: 

    "Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud
    Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the
    operation over six months ago [June or before June] , even as Israel
    was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas."(Barak
    Ravid, Operation "Cast Lead": Israeli Air Force strike followed
    months of planning,
    <http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11521>
    Haaretz, December 27, 2008)

That very same month, the Israeli authorities contacted British Gas, 
with a view to resuming crucial negotiations pertaining to the purchase 
of Gaza's natural gas:  

    "Both Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav and Ministry
    of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler agreed to
    inform BG of Israel's wish to renew the talks.

    The sources added that BG has not yet officially responded to
    Israel's request, but that company executives would probably come to
    Israel in a few weeks to hold talks with government officials."
    (Globes online- Israel's Business Arena, June 23, 2008)

The decision to speed up negotiations with British Gas (BG Group) 
coincided, chronologically, with the planning of the invasion of Gaza 
initiated in June. It would appear that Israel was anxious to reach an 
agreement with the BG Group prior to the invasion, which was already in 
an advanced planning stage.  

Moreover, these negotiations with British Gas were conducted by the Ehud 
Olmert government with the knowledge that a military invasion was on the 
drawing board. In all likelihood, a new "post war" political-territorial 
arrangement for the Gaza strip was also being contemplated by the 
Israeli government.     

In fact, negotiations between British Gas and Israeli officials were 
ongoing in October 2008, 2-3 months prior to the commencement of the 
bombings on December 27th.  

In November 2008, the Israeli Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of 
National Infrastructures instructed Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) to 
enter into negotiations with British Gas, on the purchase of natural gas 
from the BG's offshore concession in Gaza. (Globes, November 13, 2008) 

    "Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav and Ministry of
    National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler wrote to IEC
    CEO Amos Lasker recently, informing him of the government's decision
    to allow negotiations to go forward, in line with the framework
    proposal it approved earlier this year.

    The IEC board, headed by chairman Moti Friedman, approved the
    principles of the framework proposal a few weeks ago. The talks with
    BG Group will begin once the board approves the exemption from a
    tender." (Globes Nov. 13, 2008) 

*Gaza and Energy Geopolitics *

The military occupation of Gaza is intent upon transferring the 
sovereignty of the gas fields to Israel in violation of international law.

What can we expect in the wake of the invasion?

What is the intent of Israel with regard to Palestine's Natural Gas 
reserves? 

A new territorial arrangement, with the stationing of Israeli and/or 
"peacekeeping" troops?  

The militarization of the entire Gaza coastline, which is strategic for 
Israel? 

The outright confiscation of Palestinian gas fields and the unilateral 
declaration of Israeli sovereignty over Gaza's maritime areas?  

If this were to occur, the Gaza gas fields would be integrated into 
Israel's offshore installations, which are contiguous to those of the 
Gaza Strip. (See Map 1 above). 

These various offshore installations are also linked up to Israel's 
energy transport corridor, extending from the port of Eilat, which is an 
oil pipeline terminal, on the Red Sea to the seaport - pipeline terminal 
at Ashkelon, and northwards to Haifa, and eventually linking up through 
a /proposed /Israeli-Turkish pipeline with the Turkish port of Ceyhan. 

Ceyhan is the terminal of the Baku, Tblisi Ceyhan Trans Caspian 
pipeline. "What is envisaged is to link the BTC pipeline to the 
Trans-Israel Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, also known as Israel's Tipline." 
(See Michel Chossudovsky, The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil, 
<http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=2824>Global 
Research, July 23, 2006)



Map 3
------------------------------------------------------------------------


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://list.sfgreens.org/pipermail/sustainability/attachments/20090111/3bf7730d/attachment-0001.htm 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 11680.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 4424 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://list.sfgreens.org/pipermail/sustainability/attachments/20090111/3bf7730d/attachment-0002.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: emailfriend.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 874 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://list.sfgreens.org/pipermail/sustainability/attachments/20090111/3bf7730d/attachment-0005.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: printfriendly.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 876 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://list.sfgreens.org/pipermail/sustainability/attachments/20090111/3bf7730d/attachment-0006.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 32x32_su_round.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 1558 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://list.sfgreens.org/pipermail/sustainability/attachments/20090111/3bf7730d/attachment-0007.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: gazagasmap.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 58361 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://list.sfgreens.org/pipermail/sustainability/attachments/20090111/3bf7730d/attachment-0003.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: gazagasmap2.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 113569 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://list.sfgreens.org/pipermail/sustainability/attachments/20090111/3bf7730d/attachment-0008.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: LevantineEnergyCorridor.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 22682 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://list.sfgreens.org/pipermail/sustainability/attachments/20090111/3bf7730d/attachment-0009.gif

More information about the Sustainability mailing list