Natural Gas Is Shaking Up the World Order
Discoveries of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean region have further strained relations between money-hungry countries
In the eastern Mediterranean region, a glut of natural resources is changing regional relations — often for worse.
Over the past two decades, a number of nations surrounding the eastern Mediterranean Sea — including Israel, Egypt, Turkey, and Lebanon — have found huge offshore natural gas fields. While these discoveries have been a huge financial boon, they also heighten tensions between countries that still bicker over maritime boundaries, among many other issues.
“There are [already] political stalemates around the region,” says an American energy company executive who once worked for the Obama administration on eastern Mediterranean security issues. (The executive asked not to be named in exchange for his participation in this story.) “Adding billions upon billions of dollars up for grabs, it’s going to get ugly fast as everyone realizes these old conflicts suddenly have tangible economic stakes.”
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the region contains 122 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, though multiple analysts and executives contacted by GEN say this number will undoubtedly…
