Cyprus-Forum.com

[Lit]

Too many people in this thread are concerned with something that is not theirs. The huge gas find is wonderful news for Israel. It will also make the RoC step up its own efforts to find natural gas off its coastal water. See, wonderful news.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =132646166

Cyprus To License Offshore Oil And Gas Search

by The Associated Press

NICOSIA, Cyprus January 4, 2011, 07:41 am ET

A top Cyprus energy official said Tuesday that the Mediterranean island will go ahead with a second licensing round for offshore oil and gas exploration later this year in a move that could stoke tensions with Turkey.

More on this from the Cyprus Weekly:

Exploration plan

04 January 2011 12:48


NICOSIA — A top energy official says Cyprus will go ahead with a second licensing round for oil and gas exploration off its southern coast later this year.

Energy Service Director Solon Kassinis said in an e-mail on Tuesday that the licensing round "is anticipated to be announced within the second half of 2011."

The island's 51,000-square-kilometer exploration area is divided into 13 blocks. Kassinis said two blocks on the easternmost edge of the exploration area that were left out of the first licensing round in 2007 will be included in the second one.

Cyprus has licensed U.S. firm Noble Energy to explore an 800,000-acre block bordering Israeli waters where massive gas fields have been found under the seabed.

http://www.cyprusweekly.com.cy/main/92, ... 5933-.aspx

Can they go north?

Why ask when we all know the answer to that? Your hypocrisy knows no bounds and it is truly sad that a great majority of the north think like you.

What a joke. TCs say they run their OWN state in the north of the island and with a straight face tell us that any possible oil and gas found in the south also belongs to them as well. There are, as far as i know, no estimates on gas reserves inside the RoC's southern zone because drilling has yet to begin but that hasnt stopped your beloved Turkey to bellow that it has legal rights and interests in the area. One wonders if that backwater of a breakaway republic you call the trnc ever found oil or gas deposits in the north of the island...would they really share it with the RoC? Inquiring minds are asking...Will that neo-ottoman mindset of yours ever change?

[Viewpoint]

Go for it GCs and see what develops, arent you counting your chickens before they hatch?

[Daniella]

Why is the Leviathan Deposit Referred to as "Israeli"?
03.01.2011
Major gas field discovered named "Leviathan" on territory of the European Union
---
(Abstract)
Yesterday, taking a peek at the news in the prestigious economic daily I read, WSJ, there is a nice map where very carefully and respectfully is drawn the bisector of an angle on the coast of Israel, Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea divided into 2 areas. (Funny thing that the bisection done does not show the same respect when it comes to South Korea and North Korea which is a parallel and so the Yeon Yeong Islands which are just meters from North Korean beaches are not included in the map of North Korea, but in South Korea).



http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/confl ... israeli-0/

[Oracle]

Power politics!



UN spurns Beirut on fixing sea border after Israel strikes gas

January 7th, 2011

— The UN has turned down Lebanon’s demand to intervene in delineating its sea border following Israel’s discovery in the Mediterranean of the Leviathan gas well – billed as the world’s biggest find in a decade. UN Spokesman Martin Nesirsky explained that UNIFIL’s mandate applied to coastal waters, not to delineating maritime lines.

Cyprus responded to the exchange by announcing it had licensed the Texas-based US firm Noble Energy – partners with Israel’s Delek Energy group in the Leviathan project – to explore a 1,250 square-mile block bordering on Israeli waters. Leviathan, 80 miles off the Israeli port of Haifa, is claimed to contain an estimated 16 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Turkey, Syria and Lebanon have challenged the maritime mapping accord, which Jerusalem and the Nicosia government recently signed with Greek backing, calling it a conspiracy to rob them of maritime energy resources belonging to them but which they never explored. :lol:

Tuesday, Jan. 4, Lebanese foreign minister Ali Shami asked UN Secretary Ban ki-moon to order the UN force stationed in South Lebanon to stop Israel drilling further in “joint regional waters between Lebanon and northern Palestine.” The UN secretary lost no time in tossing the ball back to Beirut. Within hours, the UN spokesman stated: UNIFIL’s mandate – among others to monitor the coastal waters in conformity with Security Council resolution 1701 – “does not include delineating maritime lines. We are talking about two different things: coastal waters and a disputed boundary.”

That same day, Cyprus’ Energy Service Director Solon Kassinis announced that Nicosia would issue a second license for offshore oil and gas exploration in the second half of 2011. The island’s southern coast has been divided into 13 blocks for energy exploration. He said Noble Energy “is obliged to proceed” with the first exploratory well inside its Cypriot block between Oct. 2011-Oct.2013.

Debka file: The collaboration between Jerusalem and Nicosia in the exploration of Mediterranean energy resources, backed strongly from Athens, is growing stronger. It is spreading into additional strategic spheres, complementing the burgeoning ties between Israel and Greece.

Last month Turkey slammed the maritime mapping accord between Cyprus and Israel, saying it was “null and void” because it disregards the rights and jurisdiction of Turkish Cypriots on the ethnically split island.

http://www.news-worthy.info/un-spurns-b ... -gas/5166/

[Daniella]

UN will not define Lebanese, Israeli maritime border

UNITED NATIONS (AFP, AlArabiya.net)
------
(Abstract)
U.N. will not delineate the Lebanese-Israeli maritime border after the Israeli recent discovery of a major gas well straddling their border, U.N. Spokesman Martin Nesirky on Tuesday confirmed a U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) statement.

Nesirky told the daily press briefing in answer to a question, that the U.N. position is "what UNIFIL said," adding that UNIFIL's mandate - among others to monitor the coastal waters in conformity with Security Council resolution 1701 - "does not include delineating maritime lines. We are talking about two different things: coastal waters and a disputed boundary".

The decision came after Lebanon's foreign minister on Tuesday asked the United Nations to curb Israel's offshore drilling plans, days after the discovery of the large gas field.

"We request you do everything possible to ensure Israel does not exploit Lebanon's hydrocarbon resources, which fall within Lebanon's economic zone as delineated in the maps the foreign ministry submitted to the United Nations in 2010," Foreign Minister Ali Shami said in a letter addressed to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/ ... 32207.html

[Silenus]

So much for the turks' "zero problems amongst the neighbours" policy...maybe the inaugural Ottoman Commonwealth games will foster a new spirit of brotherhood and co-operation amongst all these quarrelsome former colonies.

[Daniella]

I am always convinced the major problem to face is Lebanon not Turkey...

[Gasman]

From Petroleum Economist:

Israel's offshore gas faces tax and border woes

Proposed upstream fiscal changes and regional politics threaten Israel's hopes for offshore gas development

http://www.petroleum-economist.com/default.asp?Page=14&PUB=279&SID=727621&ISS=25733

...
Noble chief executive Chuck Davidson said that such a change would "quickly move Israel to the lowest tier of countries for energy investment". Delek said such changes would cause "irreversible damage" to Israel's energy sector
...

...Even if – in the face of investment worries and political tensions – Israel does manage to bring Leviathan on stream and become a gas exporter, it will face further hurdles. The global gas glut could continue for the next decade (PE 12/10 p3), and the established gas producer in the eastern Mediterranean, Egypt, has proved reserves of 77 trillion cf, three times Israel's estimated resource.
...

[Lit]

NICOSIA, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Israel's Delek Group has proposed to Cyprus the creation of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility on the island to process reserves Israel has discovered offshore and Cyprus hopes to find nearby, a newsletter reported.

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOil ... J520110112

[Viewpoint]

If I was Turkey and had the power Id let these idiots spends all that money finding and drilling for naural resources and then blow them all to kingdom come, dangerous things these oil rigs.