Gaza Marine gas field, located in Palestinian waters over 20 miles off the coast of Gaza. It might just be the answer to the region’s energy crises. Exploration The field was discovered in 2000 by a joint venture between BG Gas Group and the Palestinian Consolidated Contractors Company. Experts estimate it could hold up to 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas. In fact, the creation of this type of resource has encountered tremendous pushback for almost 30 years. Various legal controversies and geopolitical tensions have delayed all significant progress.
Just days before the conflict, Israel’s ministry of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water had granted six licenses for Israel to develop the Gaza Marine gas field. Palestinian human rights groups have called the decision alarming. In reply, a law firm representing these organizations has released a notice of violation letter to ENI, the Italian state-owned energy company. The letter advises ENI against taking advantage of the gas fields located in Zone G. It purports to nullify any licenses issued by Israel as illegitimate.
To her credit, ENI has responded substantially to these critiques. In a conversation with EIP they assured us that there were no licenses issued and no exploratory operations going on at this time. They need to clarify their position. This occurs amidst an increasingly intense organizing drive by activists in Italy to support Palestinian rights.
Despite its rich reserves, the development of the Gaza Marine field has undergone repeated delays over its 30-year history. Legal challenges over ownership have stalled development, and an Israeli court ruling deemed the waters a “no-man’s water.” In addition, Israel is now self-sufficient in gas supplies. This condition has driven experts to claim that Israel has neither the incentive nor the legal right to prevent Palestine from utilizing these assets.
Michael Barron, an energy expert and former head of Chevron’s Mediterranean Office estimated Gaza Marine could bring in $4 billion in revenue. This estimate is at current market value. He notes the gas could fuel the sole power plant in the Gaza Strip. Such a development would go a long way to mitigate the territory’s chronic energy crises.
In 2015, Palestine unilaterally declared its maritime borders. This came soon after their ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that defined, among other things, their exclusive economic zone. Complicating matters even further is the fact that Israel is not a signatory to UNCLOS. Israel contends that any license for Gaza Marine should be treated as a gift from them to the Palestinian Authority. They object to it being treated as a legitimate right of the Palestinians.
“The Oslo Accords agreed in 1993 clearly give the Palestinian National Authority jurisdiction over territorial waters, the subsoil, power to legislate over oil and gas exploration and to award licenses to do so,” Barron stated. This statement highlights the legal basis Palestinian claims to their natural resources.
Control over natural resources had been a major part of the state-building agenda of Arafat’s successors. Barron further explains that Israeli extraction of Palestinian markets has been a central tenet of the decades long conflict.
Barron runs headlong into challenges that await. He thinks tapping into the Gaza Marine gas field isn’t going to propel Palestinians into Qatar- or Singapore-style prosperity. He further emphasizes that this would establish their own revenue source. This would help them create self-reliance, diminishing their current reliance on outside aid, which funds a large part of the Palestinian economy.
Palestinian human rights advocates have called for companies to “not engage and/or to withdraw totally and unconditionally from any associated dealings with Israel.” They insist that any engagement with Palestinians must support their self-determination.