gulfnews : Battle for East Mediterranean gas looms

Last week I discussed in this column the flashpoint that is evolving in the East Mediterranean due to the tussle for discovered and yet-to-be-discovered natural gas resources.

There is no doubt that this battle will be fierce because all the countries involved — except Syria — are poor in hydrocarbon resources. But before I go into individual countries, one must ask the question of what is the ultimate size of the resource in the Levant Basin which extends from the borders of Gaza to the southern borders of Turkey?

To answer this question we have nothing to go by except the US Geological Survey, which released — coincidentally or not — in March its first assessment of the zone, estimating that it contained 1.7 billion barrels of oil and 122 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas.

* username: rupertbu