Photo: Hassan Ammar, AP/NTB
Behind the scenes of the war, negotiations are taking place over large Palestinian gas fields, over the heads of Hamas. At the same time, many speculate whether gas is a driver behind Israel’s war in Gaza.
Published: 05.12.2023 05:58 | Updated: 05/12/2023 06:24
The short version
Large gas deposits outside Gaza have lain undeveloped for over 20 years.
The summary is created with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) and quality assured by Aftenposten’s journalists.
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Beneath the sea depth outside the Gaza Strip lie large deposits of gas. The fields Gaza Marine 1 and 2Gaza Marine 1 and 2Located approximately 36 kilometers west of the Gaza Strip, 610 meters below the surface of the Mediterranean, estimated to contain 1.4 trillion cubic meters of gas by British Gas (BG), which discovered it. The owners of the field today are the Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) and the Palestinian Investment Fund (50 percent each). See map further down in the case. have lain undeveloped since they were discovered over 20 years ago.
Behind the scenes of the war, negotiations are underway about them. A high-ranking American envoy has now confirmed that.
But that’s not all: Experts believe there may be a lot of undiscovered gas in the area. The occurrences of gas have given rise to a conspiracy theory, which has long circulated in pro-Palestinian media and on social media:
It assumes that Israel’s stated goal of crushing Hamas and taking full security control of the Gaza Strip is linked to gas.
Became a gas giant – blocked Gaza development
Ever since the Gaza Marine was discovered over 20 years ago, the gas from there has been predicted to be able to provide generations of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with energy security and export income.
But that hasn’t happened. After the Oslo agreements in the 1990s, the fields were legally added to the Palestinian Authority (PA). But the gas cannot be extracted without Israeli approval, as Israel has full control in the sea area off Gaza.
In September 2000, the company British Gas (BG) announced that gas had been discovered in the seabed off the Gaza Strip. Palestinian officials at the time believed that Gaza Marine could provide electricity to Palestinians for generations and perhaps also be exported. The Palestinian political leader Yasser Arafat (1929 – 2004) was personally present when the ceremony was held. Photo: Adel Hana / AP / NTB
Sea view
After Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Israel did not want revenue from the gas to fall into the hands of what it believes to be a terrorist organization, so it blocked further progress, according to Begin-Sadat Center for strategic studies (BESA).
At the same time, Israel has become an energy heavyweight in the Middle East thanks to the discoveries on its own continental shelf. Israel began extracting gas in 2004, and the energy source now accounts for 75 percent of the country’s electricity production.
In the last five years, space has also been found for Israeli gas in the international market, according to Aditya Saraswat in Rystad Energy.
– The eastern Mediterranean has been a dream location for those engaged in gas exploration. Enormous discoveries have been made, he says.
Aditya Saraswat
Research director for Middle East analyzes at Rystad Energy
In June this year, the country entered into an agreement with the EU. Europe is trying to make itself independent of gas from Russia, as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.
According to Saraswat, Israel is now also increasing the export of gas to several countries in the Middle East: – This has resulted in increased interest in cooperation from countries in the region, he says.
Saraswat describes Israeli gas exports and the border agreements the country has made in recent years, as an important piece in the normalization processes with several Arab countries.
A key person in gas negotiations
Some of the gas fields Israel wants to develop, near Lebanon in the north and Gaza in the south, have been difficult to realize.
In October 2022, a historic dividing line agreement between Israel and Lebanon finally came into place. It opened up gas extraction on both sides of the maritime border there.
Someone who was central then was Amos Hochstein.
Amos Hochstein
Joe Biden’s senior adviser on energy security and investments
Israel and Lebanon are still formally at war, but the agreement was put in place with Hochstein and the US acting as mediators.
– It is not every day that a hostile country recognizes the state of Israel in a written agreement in front of the eyes of the international community, he said.
In November this year, Hochstein visited Bahrain’s capital, Manama.
There he strongly suggested that the US position now, regarding Gaza’s offshore gas, is that it should benefit the Palestinian people on the day Gaza is no longer “ruled by a terrorist organization”.
Hochstein says he has been working on the case with the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah in the West Bank for a little over a year.
“There are companies willing to develop these fields,” he added The Nationaladding that they could “absolutely” be a revenue stream for a Palestinian government and an assurance of independent energy supply for the Palestinians.
The Palestinians are today completely dependent on Israel for energy. Asked whether Israel would allow such a setup, Hochstein replied: “Yes, 100 percent”:
– I am very confident. There is no reason for them not to, it is not theirs. The gas belongs to the Palestinian people, he said.
Amos Hochstein (tv) is an important part of the US’s efforts to prevent the war between Israel and Hamas from escalating, and in the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank about Gaza’s unused gas reserves. Here in a meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Finance Minister Janet Yellen and President of the World Bank, Ajay Banga, in a different context. Photo: Seth Wenig, AP/NTB
Sea view
An industry dependent on security
This summer, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that they will begin development by the Gaza Marine in collaboration with Egypt and the Palestinian Authority.
But according to the statement made then, progress will depend on “preserving the security and diplomatic needs of the State of Israel.”
That probably ruled out Hamas even then. Ever since the Islamist organization came to power, Hamas has demonstrated the willingness and ability to carry out attacks against both civilian and military Israeli targets with rockets, drones and naval forces.
Israel controls the sea off the Gaza Strip. But Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, has demonstrated several times that it has maritime capabilities. Here during an anti-Israeli parade in Rafah in 2015. Photo: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters / NTB
Sea view
Israel’s gas industry is vulnerable to both rocket attacks and seaborne attacks, according to Simon Henderson at The Washington Institute.
A sign of how vulnerable the gas industry is already came on 9 October. Production at the Tamar gas field was then halted. The field is located 25 km north of Gaza. A month later, Israel instructed the field’s owner, Chevron, to resume production.
Over the past 20 years, Israel has developed a number of gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean. The most important gas fields are Tamar (pictured) and Leviathan. The extraction of gas has given Israel a geopolitical boost. Many people are now wondering what will happen to the gas reserves outside Gaza. Photo: Marc Israel Sellem / AP / NTB
Sea view
Rejects “gas-fueled war”
At the same time, the Gaza Marine’s uncertain future has prompted some voices, especially in the Russian and Arab media – and pro-Palestinian private individuals on social media – to link gas and war.
The conspiracy theory is well known. Videos and posts linking Israel’s war with the gas fields have received hundreds of thousands of views on platforms such as Tiktok and Youtube.
So far, there has been no information proving that Israel’s war has anything to do with natural resources. Amos Hochstein also denies to The National that the war is partly driven by Israel’s ambitions to control Gaza’s gas:
– Israel has its own enormous resources, he says.
Israel nevertheless has great ambitions for the production and export of gas in the coming years. In this, safety is central, both to attract investment and to protect existing facilities.
The currently relatively untouched area outside Gaza may also contain far more gas than is known so far, according to Saraswat:
– There has not been much exploration activity outside Gaza. Geologically speaking, that is where you have the greatest chance of finding more resources, he says.
2023-12-05 04:58:56
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