Tikkun Olam

In addition to the natural gas deposits found offshore in various places in the Mediterranean, Israel also has apparently huge shale oil deposits , which with the rising prices of conventional oil have recently become profitable to extract.  Some say the yield of shale oil could be as high as 250 billion barrels, comparable to that of Saudi Arabia. These deposits were found in the Shfela area, near Emek haElah (The Elah Valley), where King David found his round stones and defeated the giant Goliath.  Extracting these deposits often require methods, such as hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), which may impact the environment--it's very controversial in the United States at this time, especially because the chemicals used in this process could contaminate ground water.  The beauty of the Israeli deposits is, that there is a deep separation between the shale and the aquifer by " 200 meters of impermeable rock ."  Dr. Harold Vinegar of Israel Energy Initiative sp...

Haven't heard anything lately about Israel's natural gas discoveries in the Mediterranean lately.  Last I read (from June, 2012) Noble/Delek was given the go-ahead to develop the Noa North Gas Field offshore near Ashkelon.  Supposedly, gas is now flowing from it.  Could Israel be the next Energy Giant, fulfilling its own energy needs and exporting energy to nations around the globe? That would change the Middle-East dynamic, wouldn't it (well, January's theme is energy, isn't it?)

In light of the political upheavals around the Arab world in North Africa and the Middle East, the price of a barrel of oil has shot up to over $100 a barrel, consequently the price of gasoline in my state alone has risen to $3.39/gal, and in some areas even higher. The world has become dependent upon MIddle Eastern oil (read: Arab controlled), which does not seem to bode well for Israel.  Except for this: it is now known that there were major discoveries of natural gas off the shore of the Mediterranean (about which I had written, complete with maps,  here - ) in areas mainly under Israel's jurisdiction. I have just read an article in the Jerusalem Post by Dore Gold which states that back in November, the World Energy Council based in Britain reported that Israel has oil shale reserves from which billions--yes, billions --of barrels of oil can be extracted.  Dr. Yuval Bartov, chief geologist for Israel Energy Initiatives presented, at a Colorado School of Mines sym...

Is it possible? Is it a miracle? At long last, tiny, seemingly resource-poor Israel has found abundant natural gas and oil resources offshore in the Mediterranean! In 2009, American company Noble Energy based in Houston, Texas, found (in their drilling for the Israeli Delek fuel company) vast reserves of natural gas and then oil, in the sea offshore from Haifa. Original estimates of around 87 billion cubic meters were apparently conservative, and were revised to 850 billion cubic meters, enough to supply Israel's domestic gas requirements for up to thirty-five years.  There is the strong possibility that Israel will become--and this is truly miraculous--an exporter of natural gas and maybe even oil. Of course, Lebanon and Hezbollah have already laid claims to some of these discoveries, saying that it is in their territory, and that they will "not allow" Israel to take possession of these oil and gas fields.  Well, let's take a look now, shall we? Funny, ...