Natural Resources

JERUSALEM – Israel has struck an “historic” contract for sales of billions of dollars’ worth of natural gas to Egypt, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday.

Hezbollah threatened on Sunday to target Israel’s Mediterranean natural gas rigs in a future conflict, the latest in a string of such threats.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon on Friday signed its first contract to drill for oil and gas off its coast with a consortium comprising energy giants Total, ENI, and Novatek, including in a block disputed by Israel.

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is hailing the increase in oil and gas lease sales in 2017, making it the most lucrative year in almost a decade.

US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace envoy said Thursday Israel would supply the Palestinians with millions of cubic metres of water annually, as Washington seeks to build confidence for fresh negotiations.

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s Energy Minister Berat Albayrak is set to visit Israel by the end of this year to conclude an agreement for the building of a natural gas pipeline from the Jewish state to Turkey, the Israeli energy minister said on Wednesday.

Iran on Monday signed a $5 billion agreement with France’s Total SA and a Chinese oil company to develop its massive offshore natural gas field, the first such deal with foreign companies since the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Italy, Israel, Greece and Cyprus pledged Monday to move ahead with the world’s longest undersea gas pipeline from the eastern Mediterranean to southern Europe, with support from the European Union.

The announcement that that the partners of the Leviathan gas reservoir will invest $3.75 billion in its development is a devastating blow to the BDS movement, Eli Groner, director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

In 1950, just two years after the State of Israel was founded, the country’s first commercial delegation set off for South America.

Greek company Energean Oil & Gas plans to build its own production system in the eastern Mediterranean at a cost of up to $1.5 billion to tap two Israeli offshore gas fields, the group’s chief executive said on Wednesday.

Israel and Turkey have discussed the possibility of building a natural gas pipeline between the two countries, Israel’s energy minister said on Thursday, in the first Israeli ministerial visit to Turkey since ties were ruptured six years ago.

Israel has approved a deal it hopes will fast-track development of the huge Leviathan offshore natural gas field and end years of regulatory uncertainty that has stifled the country’s nascent oil and gas industry.

U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) was appointed chairman of the House Subcommittee for Natural Resources Oversight and Investigations. This subcommittee has, among other responsibilities, oversight of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).