The $4 billion opportunity off the coast of Gaza (Natural Gas Field)

The $4 billion opportunity off the coast of Gaza (Natural Gas Field)

www.jpost.com

About a year ago, The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel and UK-based BG Group, one of the world's largest purveyors of natural gas, broke off talks concerning the possible sale of the natural gas contained in the Gaza Marine gas field, an area about 36 kilometers off of the Gaza coast.

In 1999, after paying the Palestinian Authority an undisclosed sum, BG, along with its partner, Consolidated Contractors Corporations, acquired the concession to survey for natural gas in 1,000 sq km off Gaza

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is from an article in today's Jerusalem Post.

First of all, how commonly known is it that the PLA was/has been in quasi-control, or more accurately cedeing control to Israel/UK entitites, of an untapped massive gas field in Gaza marine jurisdiction?

Let us google-news and see...

Using "gaza +"natural gas" +field" there are 593, many dating from 1999 when the discovery was made, and later in 2002 Afrafat talking about how it would be the liberation of the Palestinian people.

After a cursory glance I find few of these articles featured in U.S. papers from 1999 until now. Granted there has been a spate of news overseas about this item in the last weeks.

I am curious if I have somehow missed this for the last nine-years. Is this common knowledge to those of you in here in the US or in other countries?

The ramifiations of this seem vast to me in a number of ways.

Over the ensuring six and a half years, BG and officials from the Finance and National Infrastructures ministries tried to reach an agreement to pump the gas into Israel. But the two sides could not agree on the price.

Yet even before the talks broke off, the situation shifted dramatically in June 2007 when Hamas violently ousted Fatah from power in the Gaza Strip, claiming ownership of the gas fields off the coast and the proceeds from the sale of the gas.

And wasn't Hamas democratically elected and then had to fight for the control the vote had alloted them?

There is so much here to ponder, I am curious what those of you think....

www.jpost.com
(visit the link for the full news article)