Abstract
The Eastern Mediterranean region stretches from Sicily and Tunisia in the west to the coasts of Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Israel in the east. [...]
This study explores the impact of the recent discovery of natural gas fields in the Eastern Mediterranean on the behaviour of states and the restructuring of international relations. The emergence of these gas resources has led to a shift in the dynamics of intra-regional and inter-regional relationships, as actors grapple with heightened conflicts and the need to forge new bilateral or multilateral cooperation to maintain regional stability.
Extract
[...] Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Greece, and Cyprus, which are all coastal states, have the greatest potential to explore and drill for oil and gas. However, only three of these countries seem to be in a good position to exploit these resources: Israel, Egypt, and Cyprus. Israel First, as a reminder, Israel is, until 2009 a state with low natural resources, and which mainly imported these resources into fuels to meet its energy needs. It is a state that has also functioned as an island in terms of energy, which until then was not connected in terms of infrastructure to these neighbouring countries. [...]
[...] Since the turn of the millennium, extensive drilling operations in the eastern Mediterranean Sea have led to the discovery of several natural gas reserves. The Tamar and Leviathan fields, located off the coast of Israel, were first discovered between 2009 and 2010. These two deposits are considered the most significant deepwater discoveries of their time. The discovery of the Aphrodite deposit in Cyprus in 2011 was followed by the discovery of the Zohr deposit off Egypt in 2015 (Kavaz p. [...]
[...] L'ACCORD SUR LA DÉLIMITATION DE LA FRONTIÈRE MARITIME ENTRE LE LIBAN ET ISRAËL : UN SEUL ACCORD, DES DIRIGEANTS EN DÉSACCORD. Israeli-Lebanese Maritime Border Deal Secures Karish Gas Production. ( octobre). jpt.spe.org. https://jpt.spe.org/israeli-lebanese-maritime-border-deal-secures-karish-gas-production Jazeera, A. ( octobre). Israel begins Karish gas production ahead of Lebanon deal. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/26/israel-green-lights-gas-production-from-karish-field Kavaz, ?smail. "The energy equation in the Eastern Mediterranean." Insight Turkey 23.1 (2021): 139-160. Les problématiques des réserves gazières au large d'Israël, de Gaza, de l'Égypte, du Liban et de Chypre Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique [en ligne], (2018). FRS. [Consulted on May 28, 2025]. Available at : https://www.frstrategie.org/programmes/observatoire-du-monde-arabo-musulman-et-du-sahel/problematiques-reserves-gazieres-large-disrael-gaza-legypte-liban-chypre-2018 Marcou, J. (2020). [...]
[...] The source of the disagreement between Lebanon and Israel is their divergent views on maritime demarcation. According to the French newspaper L'Orient le Jour: " These talks had begun on the basis of the official Lebanese claims registered in 2011 with the United Nations with reference to Decree 6433/2011 covering an area of 860 km2 delimited by line 23, which would give Tel Aviv full rights to Karish while Lebanon would have the majority of the Qana field. They were then interrupted when the Lebanese delegation of negotiators announced its willingness to claim an additional toll on 1,430 km2 limited by line 29. [...]
[...] (2019). The economic costs of the Israeli occupation for the Palestinian people: the unrealized oil and natural gas potential. Consulté le 2 juillet 2025, à l'adresse https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/gdsapp2019d1_en.pdf Vie-publique.fr. ( octobre). https://www.vie-publique.fr/. Le Gaz : Nouvel Enjeu Géopolitique En Méditerranée Orientale. https://www.vie-publique.fr/parole-dexpert/282090-le-gaz-nouvel-enjeu-geopolitique-en-mediterranee-orientale Winrow, G. M. (2016). The anatomy of a possible pipeline: the case of Turkey and Leviathan and gas politics in the Eastern Mediterranean. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 18(5), 431-447. [...]
