Publication
Omar Shaban Ismail · Al-Monitor · 2013
Al-Monitor 2013 analysis explaining why Gaza's offshore gas reserves (1 trillion cubic feet, discovered 1999-2000) have never been developed: Israel has refused development without arrangements preventing Palestinian economic benefit, illustrating how natural resource control becomes a political leverage instrument in protracted conflicts.
Al-Monitor 2013 analysis explaining why Gaza's offshore gas reserves (1 trillion cubic feet, discovered 1999-2000) have never been developed: Israel has…
Editorial summary — the full article is published by Al-Monitor and cannot be reproduced here. What follows is an account of the subject written afterwards, not the original text.
Gaza's potential offshore natural gas reserves — estimated at approximately 1 trillion cubic feet in the Marine-1 and Marine-2 blocks — represent one of the territory's most significant untapped economic assets. Yet the "Gaza gas" story is also one of the most instructive examples of how political conflicts block economic development. Discovered in 1999-2000, the gas reserves have never been developed, primarily because Israel has refused to allow Palestinian development of the fields without arrangements that effectively prevent Palestinian economic benefit. British Gas (later BG Group) held development rights but was unable to proceed against Israeli objections. The result is that a resource that could fund Palestinian development for decades sits undeveloped while Gaza's economy deteriorates. The political economy of the Gaza gas situation illustrates how control over natural resources becomes an instrument of political leverage in protracted conflicts.
Topic: Gaza Economy — Gaza gas · natural resources · sovereignty — Text © Al-Monitor — archived here with attribution to the source. — Original source