A Mother Gas Find Discovered in Waters Off Israel

A huge gas field has been discovered in the waters off Israel. It contains 16 trillion cubic feet of gas, according to Houston-based Noble Energy, who reported the latest test results yesterday. It is the world's biggest deepwater gas find in a decade, and, according to WSJ, it could take care of all Israel's energy needs for 100 years and turn Israel into an energy exporter.

Naturally, such a transformation could potentially alter the geopolitical balance of the Mideast, giving Israel a new economic advantage over its enemies, writes WSJ.

Speculation through out the year about the discovery has sent the the energy index of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange up 1,700% in the 2010. Now, the confirmation of latest test results are likely to intensify the activity on the exchange.

The gas field called, Leviathan, is roughly 84 miles off Israel's northern coast and more than three miles beneath the Mediterranean's seabed. Noble began drilling its first exploratory well in the field in October.

Naturally,  everyone appears to want to get in on the coming money flow.

The Israeli government started considering changing its 1950s-era energy royalties and tax regime, to boost the government's take of any gas find from 20% to 60%.

Earlier this year, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said he was considering changing terms retroactively—meaning the government could extract better terms on previously assigned leases, according to WSJ. Noble and Israeli oil executives went on the offensive.

Nobel hired high-level negotiators, including the U.S. State Department and former President Bill Clinton, to lobby against any change.


Israeli neighbor, Lebanon has also staked out its own claim to offshore gas. They plan to start auctioning off exploration rights in their waters in 2012.

According to WSJ, Iran, Israel's arch-nemesis and Hezbollah's chief backer, has also weighed in. Tehran's ambassador to Lebanon, Qazanfar Roknabadi, last month claimed that three-quarters of the Leviathan field actually belongs to Lebanon.
Uzi Landau, the Israeli infrastructure minister, denied the claim and warned Lebanon that Israel wouldn't hesitate to use force to protect its gas rights.