Lebanese Cabinet discusses offshore energy policies
The Lebanese Cabinet has a meeting scheduled regarding the contentious issue of Beirut’s energy policies in relation to the country’s offshore energy assets.
At stake are massive offshore Mediterranean sub-sea natural gas reserves but the issue involves competing seabed claims with Israel, Cyprus and Turkey. Offshore maritime assets fall under the general delineation terms of the 1982 U.N. Law of the Sea Convention. That provides each country with a 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone for unilateral development of offshore assets. But the issue becomes complicated in congested waters with overlapping claims, as in the eastern Mediterranean. Massive natural gas reserves have been discovered in the region and the fields cross international boundaries. Sources familiar with the governmental discussions said that the 2007 rejection by the Turkish government of the proposed demarcation maritime border between Lebanon and the Republic of Cyprus resulted in the failure of the governments to ratify a proposed bilateral agreement. Issues between Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus, a member of the European Union, remain complex and delicate. According to UNCLOS terms, countries with shared maritime borders must reach bilateral agreements for the demarcation of the borders. Accordingly, Lebanon, Israel and Cyprus are obliged to complete a tripartite agreement on the demarcation of the maritime area they share. Last week Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said Lebanon is studying the maritime issues related to Mediterranean energy assets and intends to take the dispute to the United Nations.