"Everybody has a plan...until they get punched in the face."
-Mike Tyson
Paul Alster has an interesting story this month in The Jerusalem Post. It begins by informing us that...
"A fierce battle is being waged in the north of Israel."
Then goes on to say...
It’s a battle pitching the might and financial muscle of the Netanyahu government, allied with powerful international energy companies and lobbyists, against local residents of the Mediterranean strip, which will soon become the site of the natural gas energy boom on which Israel’s economy may become increasingly reliant in years to come.
...
“Why,” ask objectors to new plans for developing the Leviathan gas field off the Carmel coast, “have proposals for up to 16 130-meter high, massive gas platforms been changed from siting them 120 km from shore for safety, efficiency and security reasons to as little as seven to 10 km from shore?” There is no doubt they will be an ugly blot on the landscape. When you look out from the hillside town of Zichron Ya’akov and gaze from the seashore to the horizon, it is a distance of approximately 32 km. The platforms will stand around a quarter of the distance out to sea, far too close by almost all calculations and international norms.
The fumes, say those opposing the plan, will drift with the sea breezes onto the population of the region, posing a significant health risk.
They note the already shockingly high numbers of breathing-related illnesses and cancers in the nearby Haifa region that are attributed to noxious fumes belching from the petrochemical plants of the Haifa Bay.
The development of the gas field close to land is set to eventually span a distance from south of Haifa Bay to Netanya where another 16 gas platforms in addition to the original 16 of the first phase are proposed, something that appears to have not yet been fully communicated to those who will eventually be affected.
But of even more concern in the new plan is the decision to process highly toxic and potentially carcinogenic condensate, a valuable natural gas byproduct, on land at the Hagit power station between Zichron Ya’akov and Yokneam. It will be piped to the shore under extreme pressure, emerging at the stunning Dor beach before being piped on to Hagit. Objectors, including residents of Dor and the adjacent beach at Nahsholim, say most gas-producing countries are not prepared to run the risk of processing condensate close to population centers and prefer to do so out at sea, limiting the potential danger to their citizens. Not so, Israel, it appears.
It seems unlikely to me that Jews will eventually become accustomed to governments poisoning them with gas. We shall see.
Setting these fears of the Israeli people aside, let us take note of these words from the article attributed to US drilling company, Noble Energy (NE)...
“The development plan approved by the Ministry of Energy on 02.06.2016, [June 2, 2016] will deliver natural gas to the Israeli market and to neighboring countries before the end of 2019. The Leviathan Production Platform is located 10 km offshore on the edge of the continental shelf and within the area approved by the National Planning Committee’s National Outline Plan 37H.
Exporting significant amounts of natural gas to neighboring countries...via pipeline...before the end of 2019?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-25/natural-gas-war-burning-under-s...
To better understand the war in Syria, remember the surge in natural gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean starting in 2009. Israel, Cyprus, and Egypt have found large gas deposits, and offshore Lebanon has the potential for significant gas resources. Israel has the potential to export gas to Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and Turkey [Read Europe] (Israel and Turkey have discussed a pipeline to Turkey, but Cyprus has objected as it does not have diplomatic relations with Turkey.)
So, looking at the following map, it is easy to see why the Israeli government and AIPAC's whores in Washington, D.C., have been so keen on regime change in Syria.
From the EIA...
There are proposals, at varying stages of development, to export gas via pipeline and as liquefied natural gas (LNG) from both Cyprus and Israel (for a more detailed discussion of the proposed export routes, see EIA's regional brief Oil and Natural Gas in the Eastern Mediterranean). An LNG terminal in Cyprus already began pre-front-end engineering design work and could begin construction in 2015. Cyprus hopes to incorporate volumes from fields in offshore Israel into its plans, but Israel appears to prefer its own facility at this point.
Other natural gas export options include
- A new pipeline from the eastern Mediterranean to Crete (where the volumes could flow into the European grid)
- A new pipeline from the eastern Mediterranean to Turkey
- Use of existing infrastructure to send volumes to Egypt for export via its LNG facilities
Several factors may influence how and when exports may came online: regional insecurity, such as the ongoing conflict in Syria and the recent unrest in Egypt; territorial disputes, such as that between Israel and Lebanon; and the status of economies in both potential exporting countries and destination markets like Europe and Asia.
Indeed, Syria and her long-standing ally and gas-exporting friend, Russia, have refused to tap-out of the fight, and it seems to have paid off.
So, with Assad and Putin's recent defeat of the Israeli-American backed terrorists in Syria, and the Israeli people protesting the industrialization of their beautiful but limited seashore, the Israeli Ministry of Energy and Noble Energy may need to revise their plan of exporting gas to neighboring countries...via pipeline...through Syria...before the end of 2019.
What effect any delay would have on, "Israel's economy for years to come," and Noble Energy's PL and stock price remains to be seen.
Peace, prosperity, and liberty,
h_h