Offshore gas fields renew Israel-Lebanon row

The Lebanese parliament is failing to unite in pursuing what is the largest fossil fuel find in decades on the countries' poorly defined maritime border.

The lack of demarcation along the countries' northern border could cost Lebanon a hugely profitable share of the recently discovered natural gas fields.

BEIRUT // Internal bickering between Lebanese political factions has delayed consideration of an oil and natural gas exploration bill that could help to bolster claims that a recently discovered field off the coast of Israel could also partially belong to Lebanon.

An Israeli-American consortium this month announced the discovery of two potentially huge offshore natural gas fields that could be worth as much as US$40 billion (Dh147bn) and turn Israel from a net importer of fossil fuels into a lucrative exporter. But although Lebanon claims that the northern-most portion of one of the fields is in its territorial waters, international law requires that both countries negotiate the exact boundaries and come to an arrangement.

Lebanon's leaders demanded that the state undertake oil and gas exploration on its own, but Israel's infrastructure minister, Uzi Landau, last week argued that by having refused to demarcate borders with Israel in the past, Lebanon has forfeited its right to negotiate for a piece of what might be the largest fossil fuel find in the region for decades. "We will not hesitate to use our force and strength to protect not only the rule of law but the international maritime law," Mr Landau told reporters.

He also accused the Lebanese government of inventing excuses to lay claim to the resources. "Whatever we find, they will have something to say," he said. "That's because they're not challenging our findings and so-called occupation of the sea. Our very existence here is a matter of occupation for them. These areas are within the economic waters of Israel." The reaction from Lebanon, while neither swift nor unified, was vehement with the parliament speaker Nabih Berri ordering the Lebanese legislature to begin considering an exploration project of its own.

"Lebanon must take immediate action to defend its financial, political, economic and sovereign rights," Mr Berri told parliament earlier this month. "Israel is racing to make the case a fait accompli and was quick to present itself as an oil emirate, ignoring the fact that, according to the maps, the deposit extends into Lebanese waters." But after the parliament was due to approve such an effort in a session on Monday, discussions over the bill's language collapsed during closed-door talks between political factions, a delay that the political leadership was unable to explain, at least publicly, yesterday.

Gibran Bassil, the energy minister, this week directly warned US companies not to perform any drilling or exploratory operations near the disputed areas until the matter is resolved, but neither Israel nor its partners in the project have indicated if they would respect the threat. One group taking the discovery quite seriously, however, is Hizbollah, which has added undersea fossil fuel reserves to the list of Lebanese items that need protecting or liberation from Israel. The group already claims that Israel occupies three small parcels of land along the tri-border between Syria, Lebanon and Israel which has never properly been demarcated.

The militant group uses this occupation, as well as the threat of future Israeli attacks, as the reason for refusing calls by the international community to disarm. This week, Hizbollah officials added energy security to these issues and a top official warned that parliament's inaction allows Israel to move ahead quickly in exploiting potentially Lebanese assets. "It's not in Lebanon's interest that Israel work day and night to speed up the drilling of petroleum, and it [Israel] has already agreed with several international companies to drill for it," said Nabil Quoak, Hizbollah's top commander for southern Lebanon to the local media yesterday.

"Complacency in this issue is the greatest national sin because Israel has made its threats and is revealing its hostile intentions." @Email:[e-mail]