Political turmoil in the Middle East is rife. Tensions could drastically increase in future months if Israel and Lebanon are unable to come to an agreement surrounding the recent discovery of oil and gas off their coasts. Given the fragile nature of Lebanon's economy at the moment, the country is desperate to secure its rights over these natural resources.
It is estimated that nearly two billion barrels of recoverable oil and huge reserves of gas have been found in the eastern part of the Mediterranean.
The problem of this discovery relates to the inability of both countries to agree their maritime border. This could escalate into real political tension because Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah has recently entered into this disagreement. In a televised statement, Nasrallah stated that "Israel should keep your hands off our waters...and if Lebanon's facilities are targeted by a country... that country' facilities will be targeted too".
Whilst Israel has already begun to sale exploration rights of two natural gas fields (called Tamar and Leviathan), Lebanon does not have the financial resources to explore.
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Most of this gas is offshore Gaza and Lebanon with not so much offshore Israel / Egypt. This has become very political. Sad.
On another website, I saw the map of the potential oil/gas areas, and it is offshore both Israel and Greek Cyprus.
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