Al Bawaba: Israel's Offshore Gas Plans Will Not Impact Lebanon

The Israeli Cabinet’s latest approval on development plans of its offshore gas fields will not necessarily impact Lebanon’s plans to extract and sell its potential gas reserves in the future, said Crystol Energy Director Carole Nakhle at an energy conference Wednesday.

“I am not very much worried from competition by Israel because big oil companies won’t be much encouraged to invest there out of fear of a hostile reaction from Arab countries in which these firms have big investments,” she told The Daily Star on the sidelines of a conference organized by the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies.

The conference aimed at discussing the impacts of lower oil prices on the Middle East.

Nakhle said that political risks are also high in Israel which will not encourage big companies to go and invest money there.

She explained that Israel has two choices when it comes to selling its gas reserves. It can either transport its natural gas reserves through pipelines to different neighboring countries or it can opt to turn natural gas into Liquefied Natural Gas which facilitates its export to Asia and other places as well. MORE