In deal with Israel, drilling vessel reaches maritime area in dispute with Lebanon

An offshore drilling platform tasked with extracting gas for Israel has reached a disputed maritime area with Lebanon, 80 kilometres from Israel’s shores, Channel 12 reported.

The platform, owned by Greek oil producer Energean, sailed from Singapore five weeks ago to join the Tamar and Leviathan platforms that supply Israel with natural gas.

The platform’s arrival has angered Lebanon with President Michel Aoun warning that any activity in the disputed maritime area would amount to an act of aggression and a provocation.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Israel was “encroaching on Lebanon’s maritime wealth, and imposing a fait accompli in a disputed area”, calling this “extremely dangerous”, Reuters reported.

Energean said its floating production storage and offloading vessel arrived at the Karish gas field yesterday, about 80 kilometres west of the city of Haifa. The company said it planned to bring it online in the third quarter of the year.

READ: Hezbollah warns it will not allow Israel to operate in Karish gas field

There is an ongoing maritime border dispute between Israel and Lebanon over the area covered by this gas field.

In October 2020, indirect negotiations between the two sides were launched, under UN auspices and American mediation. However, they have since stalled.

The Karish gas field contains 1.4 trillion cubic feet of proven and probable gas and this could be a game-changer for Lebanon, which is suffering from a chronic and tight economic crisis.

Energean bought the Karish and Tanin fields, located in deep waters around 100 kilometres off Israel’s coast, in August 2016 for $148 million from US-Israeli partners Delek Group and Noble Energy, according to Reuters.

Energean is Greece’s only oil producer with an average production of 3,500 barrels per day in 2016. The Karish and Tanin fields are the company’s biggest assets with combined gas reserves of an estimated 2.4 trillion cubic feet.