Israel Matzav

Lebanon asks UN to protect its oil and gas resources; UPDATED

Continuing to create conflict where none exists, Lebanon asks the UN to protect its oil and gas resources from Israeli encroachment. There are two small problems with the request. Lebanon has yet to even start exploring for any oil and gas resources, and may not have any. Israel has not done any exploration beyond the likely recognized maritime border between the two countries (see map). So what's the fuss about?

[Lebanon] said Foreign Minister Ali al-Shami wrote to Ban asking him to “exert every possible effort to prevent Israel exploiting Lebanon’s maritime hydrocarbon resources which fall within its exclusive economic zone”.

Shami’s letter came a week after Texas-based Noble Energy and its Israeli exploration partners said the Leviathan prospect — 130 km (80 miles) off the Israeli port of Haifa — was the world’s biggest deepwater gas find in the past decade.

Lebanon says that seismic surveys have identified promising quantities of natural gas in its own waters.

But Israel, which fought a month-long war with Lebanese group Hezbollah in 2006, has no agreed maritime border with Lebanon. Lebanese politicians say they fear Israel may drill in Lebanon’s waters or extract gas from common fields. Israel has said the gas falls within its own waters.

Well, look at the map. Do you see any basis for saying it's not in Israel's territorial waters?

Shami stressed “Lebanon’s right to exploit fully its hydrocarbon resources, which fall within its exclusive economic zone, based on legitimate rights established by international law,” according to the news agency.

“Any Israeli exploitation of this resource would be a blatant violation of these laws and an attack on Lebanese sovereignty,” he added.

But Israel hasn't exploited resources that might belong to Lebanon and doesn't plan to exploit those resources. So what's the fuss about?

The answer, of course, is that Lebanon, like all the Arab countries, doesn't accept Israel's 'right to exist' and therefore doesn't accept that Israel has any maritime rights. And you thought Shimon Peres was going to solve all of our problems by turning the entire country into an artificial island in the middle of the sea. So much for that idea.

UPDATE 11:28 AM

The UN has told Lebanon that it refuses to get involved.

The U.N. will not define the Lebanese-Israeli maritime border after the Israeli recent discovery of a major gas well across their border, U.N. Spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

His remarks came to confirm a statement by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Nesirky said the U.N. position is "what UNIFIL said."

He said UNIFIL's mandate - among others to monitor the coastal waters in conformity with Security Council resolution 1701 - "does not include delineating maritime lines. We are talking about two different things: coastal waters and a disputed boundary."

Heh.

Labels: Lebanon, Leviathon well, oil and gas exploration, Shimon Peres

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:23 AM