No EEZ solution: The politics of oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean

Middle East Journal

Volumn 66, Issue 4, 2012, Pages 579-597

  Stocker, James ^a  

^a Trinity Washington University   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT; HYDROCARBON EXPLORATION; HYDROCARBON RESOURCE; NATURAL GAS; OIL SUPPLY;

MEDITERRANEAN SEA; MEDITERRANEAN SEA (EAST);

EID: 84868587063     PISSN: 00263141     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3751/66.4.11     Document Type: Article

References (92)

1. US Geological Survey, "Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Levant Basin Province, Eastern Mediterranean," March 2010.
2. Gawdat Bahgat, "Israel's Energy Security: Regional Implications," Middle East Policy Vol. 17, No. 3 (2011), pp. 25-34.
3. Brenda Shaffer, "Israel - New Natural Gas Producer in the Mediterranean," Energy Policy, Vol. 39 (2011), pp. 5379-5387.
4. Simon Henderson, "Energy Discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean: Source for Cooperation or Fuel for Tension? The Case of Israel," Mediterranean Policy Program: Policy Brief (Washington, DC: German Marshall Fund, 2012).
5. Michael Klare, Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict (New York: Owl Books, 2002).
6. Bahgat, "Israel's Energy Security," pp. 32-34.
7. On the legal, political, and economic issues surrounding the Israeli use of gas during this period.
8. Karim Wissa, "The Oil Question in Egyptian-Israeli Relations, 1969-1979: A Study in International Law and Resource Politics," Cairo Papers in Social Science, Vol. 12 (1989).
9. Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, Annex III, March 26, 1979, http://www.mfo.org/images/documents/aboutMFO/treaty.pdf.
10. Eric Schewe, "Just Can't Get Enough," Business Egypt Today, July 2006, p. 76.
11. Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company website, www.egas.com/eg/Corporate_Overview/Exploration.aspx.
12. BP Statistical Review of World Energy, June 2012, http://www.bp.com/sectionbodycopy.do?categoryId=7500&contentId=7068481, p. 20.
13. Durham University, International Boundaries Research Unit, "Energy Agreements," Boundary News, November 19, 1993.
14. John Roberts, "Another Peace Pipeline," Energy Economist, Vol. 169 (1995), p. 2.
15. Peyman Pejman, "Mideast: Gas Pipeline Plan Promises Economic, Political Dividends," Global Information Network, February 9, 2004.
16. In 2008, the Turkish government signed a memorandum of understanding to extend the AGP from Homs to Kilis in Turkey. A contract was signed with a Russian company for the construction of the pipeline, but it was never built. Stroytransgaz website, www.stroytransgaz.com/press-center/smi/bmi-industry-insights-/04092009.
17. For a copy of the agreement, see http://www.arabist.net/storage/uploads/TreatFile.pdf.
18. Jodi Sanger-Weaver, "Egypt, Israel, and The Arish-Ashkelon Pipeline Controversy," Prospect, University of California at San Diego, January 2012.
19. On the Bedouin insurgency.
20. Amr Yossef, "Securing the Sinai," Foreign Affairs, September 28, 2011. For the figure of 14, see "Iraq, Jordan eye natural gas pipeline," UPI.com, June 15, 2012.
21. Egypt Cancels Gas Deal with Israel," Reuters, April 22, 2012.
22. "Ex-minister, Mubarak Confidante Sentenced to 15 years in Egypt-Israel Gas Trial," Ahram Online, June 28, 2012, http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/46389/Egypt/Politics-/Exminister,-Mubarak-confidante-sentenced-to--years.aspx.
23. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, December 10, 1982, 1833 UNTS 397, http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part5.htm.
24. Donald R. Rothwell and Tim Stephens, The International Law of the Sea (Portland, OR: Hart, 2010), p. 83.
25. Nugzar Dundua, "Delimitation of Maritime Boundaries Between Adjacent States," Nippon Foundation Fellow Research Papers (2007).
26. Claudiane Chevalier, Governance in the Mediterranean Sea: Legal Regime and Prospectives (Malaga, Spain: IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation, 2004), p. 7.
27. Philippos Stylianou, "Cyprus Braces For Oil Bonanza," Middle East News Online [Durham], January 26, 2001.
28. Law of the Sea Bulletin [LOSB] Vol. 52, December 2003, pp. 45-47.
29. "Damascus, Nicosia Agree on Joint Oil Exploration Off Cyprus," Middle East News Online, August 8, 2001.
30. "Country Monitor," Economist Intelligence Unit Country Monitor, April 1, 2002, p. 6.
31. "Cyprus, Lebanon Discuss Carving Up Underseas Oil, Gas Deposits," Middle East News Online, March 7, 2002.
32. Martin Wählisch, "Israel-Lebanon Offshore Oil & Gas Dispute - Rules of International Maritime Law," ASIL Insights, Vol. 15, No. 31 (2011).
33. Turkish Daily News [Ankara], Jan. 23, 2007, p. 1. See also UN Official Document Database [UNDOCS], A/61/727, S/2007/54, Letter, February 2, 2007.
34. "Cypriot FM Official Confirms Turkish Vessels' Movement in Region," BBC Monitoring European, February 1, 2007, p. 1.
35. "Turkey ups ante in East Med Gas Row with Greek Cyprus," Today's Zaman, September 22, 2011.
36. See UNDOCS, A/66/851, Letter, June 19, 2012, http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/66/851.
37. "Recent Discoveries," Noble Energy website, July 18, 2012, http://www.nobleenergyinc.com/Exploration/Recent-Discoveries-130.html.
38. Durham University, International Boundaries Research Unit, "Israel Unilaterally Defines the Northern Limit of its Maritime Space," Boundary News, July 14, 2011.
39. UNDOCS, A/63/828, S/2009/216, Letter, April 17, 2009; A/65/674, S/2010/674, Letter, December 30, 2010.
40. "Verbal War over Gas escalates between Lebanon, Israel," YaLibnan [Lebanon], June 25, 2010, http://www.yalibnan.com/2012/06/25/verbal-war-over-gas-escalates-between-lebanon-israel/.
41. Durham University, International Boundary Research Unit, "UN Declares it is not responsible for Maritime Border Delimitation between Israel and Lebanon," Boundary News, January 5, 2011.
42. UNDOCS, 2082.11D 11.40050, Letter, Mansour to UN Secretary General, June 20, 2011.
43. The Annexes (with lists of points) are printed in LOSB Vol. 73, p. 39.
44. Nicholas Blanford, "Diplomacy is Key to Maritime Border Dispute," The Daily Star, July 27, 2011.
45. Laila Bassam, "Lebanon Delays Gas Tenders, Sets up Oversight Panel," The Daily Star, April 11, 2012.
46. Hila Raz and Avi Bar-Eli, "Hezbollah: Offshore Gas is Lebanese," Haaretz, June 15, 2010.
47. "Verbal War over Gas Escalates between Lebanon, Israel;" "Former Israel Navy Chief: Israel can defend its gas fields," Globes [Israel], September 4, 2011.
48. Sarah Fenwick, "Cyprus-Israel Military Alliance Strengthens Amid Turkey Threats," cyprusnewreport.com, September 8, 2011.
49. "Greece, Israel Sign Pact on Security Cooperation," Jewish Telegraph Agency, September 5, 2011.
50. "Israeli Jets Fly Low over Turkish Gas Exploration Ship," Jerusalem Post, September 30, 2011.
51. This was referred to as Map #6 in the 1994 agreement and Map #8 in the 1995 one.
52. Geoffrey R. Watson, The Oslo Accords: International Law and the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreements (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 152-153.
53. In a footnote, Watson points out that international law provides for the future Palestinian state to have an exclusive economic zone, but he does not express an opinion about how its borders should be determined.
54. Interview by the author with former advisor to the PLO on border issues, October 21, 2011.
55. "Natural Gas of Gaza to Profit Palestinians," Washington Times, August 27, 2005, p. 1.
56. Ayman Abualkhair, "Electricity Sector in the Palestinian Territories: Which Priorities for Development and Peace?," Energy Policy, Vol. 35 (2007), p. 2210.
57. "Israel, British Gas reach accord on Gaza Deal despite Hamas Takeover," BBC Monitoring Middle East, July 6, 2007.
58. "On Exploiting Land and Natural Gas," Palestine Chronicle [Mountlake Terrace, Washington], August 3, 2009.s
59. "British Gas and Israel Eyeing Gaza's Natural Gas Reserves," The Daily Star, April 26, 2010.
60. "Matrix of Palestinian-Israeli Positions," Palestine Papers, Al Jazeera, May 2008.
61. "Borders: Issue Overview and Guidelines," Palestine Papers, Al Jazeera, September 2009.
62. The intersection is Point 8a of the Egypt-Cyprus agreement and Point 12 in the Israel-Cyprus EEZ. In Map 2, Point "8a" is labeled as Point 8. However, in the Egypt-Cyprus treaty, it is referred to as Point 8a.
63. LOSB Vol. 52, pp. 45-47.
64. The author was unable to obtain the coordinates of the borders of Zone 202 from the relevant Israeli authorities. Point B is deemed more "logical" because if Point A were the actual location of the Point 8a/Point 12, then the Israeli concession zones may extend into areas that could be claimed by Egypt, which is unlikely but not impossible.
65. LOSB Vol. 52, p. 45.
66. There is no single set of principles for determining equidistance between the borders of three countries. Between two opposing countries, implementing the principle of equidistance means taking "the median line, every point of which is equidistant from the nearest points of the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of each State is measured." Convention on the Continental Shelf, April 29, 1958, 15 UST 471, 499 UNTS 311, http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/8_1_1958_continental_shelf.pdf.
67. Amiram Barkat and Lilach Weissman, "Netanyahu Looks to Buy Palestinian Gas," McClatchy- Tribune Business News, March 7, 2011.
68. See Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructures, Tender No. 37/11, 2011.
69. "Noa Well Starts Supplying Israel with Natural Gas," Reuters, June 24, 2012.
70. For the 1.2 billion figure, see Press Release.
71. Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructure, "The Ministry of National Infrastructures Authorized Nobel [sic] Energy Yesterday to Open the 'Noa North' Natural Gas Reserve," June 13, 2011.
72. E-mail message to the author from a research assistant of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, February 22, 2012.
73. Israel has already begun to increase its naval expenditures to protect its offshore gas activities.
74. "Israel Gas Fields Pose Naval Security Challenge," AFP, July 18, 2012.
75. Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution (Barcelona Convention), revised text, 1995, www.unep.ch/regionalseas/regions/med/t_barcel.htm.
76. "Israel Could be Exposed to Major Claims over Gas," Globes [Israel], September 13, 2011.
77. For a discussion of questions of legal responsibility surrounding the oil spill.
78. Aseel A. Takshe, Irna Van der Molen, and Jon C. Lovett, "Examining the Lack of Legal Remedies for Environmental Damage in the 2006 Lebanon-Israel War," Environmental Policy and Governance, Vol. 22, No. 1 (2012).
79. National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, Report to the President, "Deepwater: The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling," January 2011.
80. For an overview of this issue.
81. Masahiro Miyoshi, The Joint Development of Offshore Oil and Gas in Relation to Maritime Boundary Delimitation, Maritime Briefing, Vol. 2, No. 5 (Durham, UK: International Boundaries Research Unit, 1999).
82. The agreement also provides a set of criteria for such agreements (e.g., geographical features, total amount of hydrocarbons, and the apportionment of reserves on each side of the median line). UNDOCS, A/CN.4/607/Add.1., "Shared natural resources: Comments and observations received from Governments," June 17, 2009.
83. Rothwell and Stephens, The International Law of the Sea, pp. 290-291.
84. Bahgat, "Israel's Energy Security," p. 26.
85. Chevalier, "Governance in the Mediterranean Sea," p. 16.
86. UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, http://www.un.org/depts/los/index.htm.
87. Wählisch, "Israel-Lebanon Offshore Oil & Gas Dispute," p. 4.
88. Dundua, "Delimitation of Maritime Boundaries Between Adjacent States," p. 21.
89. Krista E. Wiegand, "Bahrain, Qatar, and the Hawar Islands: Resolution of a Gulf Territorial Dispute," The Middle East Journal, Vol. 66, No. 1 (Spring 2012), p. 96.
90. The author is grateful to Amr Yossef for this insight.
91. "Department Statement: Taba Arbitration Award," September 29, 1988, US Department of State Bulletin, December 1988.
92. Barak Ravid, "U.S. Backs Lebanon on Maritime Border Dispute with Israel," Haaretz, July 7, 2011.