Page 8 - MEOG Week 42 2022

MEOG POLICY & SECURITY MEOG

Gaza nears deal for offshore exploration

PALESTINE FOLLOWING last week’s maritime delimita- formally assumed control of the Gaza Marine gas
tion agreement between Israel and Lebanon, the field off the coast of the Gaza Strip from Royal
Palestinian Authority (PA) appears close to an Dutch Shell, pledging to initiate a search for a
upstream development deal offshore the Gaza new international operator.
Strip. Developing Gaza Marine is expected to cost
Egypt’s Petroleum and Mineral Resources around $1.2bn and the PIF has partnered with
Minister Tarek El-Molla held talks with Pales- Greek engineering firm Consolidated Contrac-
tinian Prime Minister Muhammed Shtayyeh tors Co (CCC).
and Israeli representatives to pursue the devel- In September 2020, members of the East
opment of the Gaza Marine gas field. Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) said they
The trigger for the renewed interest in the were discussing the development of the field.
asset seems to be European interest in diversi- El-Molla said: “We have the Gaza Marine gas
fying its natural gas supplies away from Russian field, which now we are taking together with the
sources, which gave impetus to the signing of Palestinians and Israel in order to work together
the trilateral memorandum of understanding in order to develop this discovery there.”
(MoU) between the EU, Israel and Egypt earlier Speaking to Arab News, a PA official said:
this year to jointly develop offshore assets in the “The gas extraction project is an important stra-
Eastern Mediterranean, with this co-operation tegic scheme for us … The prime minister and
having now expanded to Gaza. the government are very interested in it because
The UK-based BG Group was awarded a it will generate sums of money that will help the
25-year contract for the Gaza Marine licence in government’s treasury.”
1999 and discovered the asset the following year The same source said that a group of Palestin-
with reserves estimated at around 1 trillion cubic ian companies would hold 55% in the develop-
feet (28bn cubic metres) around 36 km offshore. ment phase of the project, with 45% up for grabs
At the time, this represented a major discovery with its potential Egyptian partner.
for the Eastern Mediterranean, but has since Palestinian economic expert Samir Hulileh
been dwarfed by the likes of Israel’s giant Levia- was quoted as saying that once operational, the
than and Tamar fields and Egypt’s Zohr. asset could provide an annual income of $700-
The find was never developed as relations $800mn. He added that gas would be provided to
between the PA and Tel Aviv worsened and as the Gaza power plant, with the remainder to be
tentative plans for the field to supply gas to Israel exported by pipeline to Egypt and with existing
were abandoned. infrastructure to be extended into the Palestin-
In 2018, the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF) ian offshore.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 19•October•2022