The discovery of natural gas resources in the East Mediterranean promise important benefits

of energy security and economic gains. A 2010 US geological survey showed that the

Levantine basin - offshore Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus - could hold as much as

120 trillion cubic feet, thus securing supply of energy not only for the countries of the region

but also for Europe.

Regional countries are currently at various stages of exploration and development which are

however fraught by political risks and policy dilemmas. Thus cooperation, conflict resolution

and the creation of interdependency structures are prerequisites to unlock the potential of the

region and safeguard the unimpeded flow of future gas production.

A leading country for regional energy cooperation is Israel because the preparations to extract

gas from its major fields, Leviathan and Tamar, are already at advanced stages. Israel looks

into a combination of export options on the basis that gas is a game changer stressing the

inevitability between macroeconomics and geopolitics. In this context, priority is given to

Jordan as disruptions of energy imports from Egypt have impacted the Kingdom’s public

budget and fiscal space for broader development goals. The sale of Israeli gas to Jordan falls

within Amman’s broad strategy for transformational change in energy supply, including a

diversification of natural gas imports from alternative sources in the region......continue reading