The Eastern Mediterranean region is undergoing major changes in its energy supply and demand. The Levant Basin (offshore Cyprus, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Syria) is thought to hold 1.7bn barrels of crude oil and 122 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, according to a 2010 US Geological Survey report.
With expected economic growth, and the population of the region forecast to grow from 45.3mn in 2012 to between 58 and 62mn by 2030, energy demand is projected to increase substantially. The expected offshore hydrocarbon reserves in the Levant Basin are small in size compared to world proven gas reserves (less than 2% of the 6,600 tcf figure given in BP’s 2012 Statistical Review). But they provide much needed domestic energy resources to a region that has so far been considered ‘hydrocarbon poor’. (CONTINUED - 1212 WORDS)
