Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stated on 21 December 2013 that Israel's intent to unilaterally demarcate its maritime border with Lebanon is a violation of International Law and of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and will not have any legal repercussion on Lebanon.
The dispute gained topicality after substantial amounts of natural gas were found off Israel’s coast.Lebanon will be launching its first licensing round in early 2015 motivated by promising seismic surveys suggesting that 45% of Lebanese waters could contain up to 95 Tcf of natural gas.