Reuters:
Israel can look forward to long-term energy security after the discovery of a huge off-shore natural gas field but obstacles lie ahead in exporting its output, experts said Thursday.
Israel will find it hard to secure foreign buyers as European gas consumption is weakening while competition is stiff in the expanding Asian market, they said.
Texas-based Noble Energy and its Israeli exploration partners described Wednesday the Leviathan prospect -- 130 km (80 miles) off the Mediterranean port of Haifa -- as the world's biggest gas find in the past decade
Leviathan is estimated to have 16 trillion cubic feet (450 billion cubic meters) of gas. Tamar, a nearby site being drilled by Noble and Israel's Delek Energy, was the largest gas find in the world in 2009, at 8.4 trillion cubic feet.
"A world power," read a headline in Israel's mass circulation Maariv newspaper, describing its new energy muscle.
But the experts pointed to a world glut in natural gas, and noted that, unlike oil which is sold on global markets, gas is geographic and needs a specific buyer.
"It's not a great time for Israel to enter a lot of the markets," said Brenda Shaffer, an energy expert at the University of Haifa. "European consumption is going down, new suppliers are coming on. I'm not sure there's a buyer waiting by the door at this point."
Shaffer noted larger amounts have been discovered onshore, where it is also cheaper to produce than in deep water.
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The gas will give Israel long term energy security and I expect the innovative Israelis will find new uses for it including as fuel for autos. There is now a glut of natural gas in the world and I expect others will also be innovative in finding uses for it. The US how has at least a 100 year supply and it keeps find more. All of this is to the consternation of the carbon phobes who were hoping to create shortages to drive up the cost so people would use less efficient forms of "alternative" energy.
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