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Africa North

British Company Discovers Large Natural Gas Reservoir Off Egyptian Coast

2012-07-21

Estimated 3.4 billion cubic meter find near Ras El-Bar announced Saturday by Ministry of Energy

A British company operating off the coast of Egypt discovered a large natural gas reservoir, the Egyptian Ministry of Energy announced on Saturday. The discovery by British Gas near Ras El-Bar reportedly contains 3.4 billion cubic meters of gas, according to Israel Radio.

So it's looking like the entire eastern basin of the Med has natural gas. Egypt, Israel, Turkey and Cyprus could be energy independent. That would change the politics in a hurry.

In April, Egypt unilaterally cancelled its agreement to supply Israel with natural gas in what appeared to be a new indication of the steadily deteriorating relations between the countries since the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
in 2011.

Some leading Israeli politicians characterized the cancelation as a major breach of the 1979 peace agreement, but the Israeli Prime Minister's Office and Egypt's ruling military leadership both described the move as "commercial" rather than "political" and said it was rooted in a dispute over interrupted supplies and payments.

Posted by:trailing wife

#2 So it's looking like the entire eastern basin of the Med has natural gas. Egypt, Israel, Turkey and Cyprus could be energy independent. That would change the politics in a hurry.

It would depend on successfully executing the gas wells, Dr. Steve. As I've been pondering the situation, though, Egypt's ability to do that, even by contracting it out, concerns me. Especially as they're likely to be going through food riots at the same time, unless someone will loan them the necessary against a cut of future revenues. It seems to me that the repeated blowing up of the Israel/Jordan pipeline is more indicative of the future than the management of the Suez Canal.

I very much hope I'm wrong.

Posted by: trailing wife 2012-07-21 20:54

#1 Egypt unilaterally cancelled its agreement to supply Israel with natural gas

I read that as: Egypt, which will soon need every bit of cash it can get its hands on to buy food, decided to screw the Juice and themselves. We would call it a Lose-Lose strategy, but it seems to be the prefered option in ME relations. No wonder the place is messed up.

Posted by: SteveS 2012-07-21 16:42

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