U.S.-led Negotiations between Israel, Lebanon over EEZ Reach Deadlock

Mediation led by the United States to resolve a dispute between Lebanon and Israel over their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) has reached a deadlock after a top U.S. official described it as “excellent” earlier this month.

U.S. Department of State Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy Amos Hochstein, who is mediating the talks between the two countries, confirmed that the dispute on oil block 9.

The U.S. is holding on to a proposal to establish a “maritime Blue Line” that would help both countries control any violation of their territorial waters.

The Israeli Globes said that the “border would be deemed temporary, until a permanent solution is found.”

Lebanon had previously voiced consensus over the proposal.

Hochstein met earlier in April during a short visit to Lebanon with senior officials including President Michel Suleiman, PM Tammam Salam, Energy Minister Arthur Nazarian, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, Speaker Nabih Berri's adviser Ali Hamdan, U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly and head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc Fouad Saniora.

The Globes said that Lebanon considers it as “a good starting point that needs fine tuning."

However, the Israeli daily said the dispute between Lebanon and Israel on oil block 9 is delaying the matter.

Lebanon's oil and gas wealth had attracted around 46 Arab and international companies in the second pre-qualification round of the tenders process.

The tender has been previously postponed for several times over the failure of former Prime Minister Najib Miqati's cabinet to approve the decrees that call for demarcating 10 maritime oil exploration blocks and setting up a revenue-sharing model.

The awarding of Lebanon's 10 oil blocks have been postponed from April to August over acute discord among Lebanese officials.

Lebanon and Israel are bickering over a maritime zone that consists of about 854 square kilometers and suspected energy reserves there could generate billions of dollars.

Lebanese officials continuously expressed fear that Israel's discovery of a new offshore gas field near Lebanese territorial waters means the Jewish state could siphon some of Lebanon's crude oil.

In March 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and a mean of 34.5 trillion cubic meters of recoverable gas in the Levant Basin in the eastern Mediterranean, which includes the territorial waters of Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Cyprus.

The U.S. had offered to mediate between the sides in an attempt to reach a solution.

Beirut argues that a maritime map it submitted to the U.N. is in line with an armistice accord drawn up in 1949, an agreement which is not contested by Israel.

H.K.

G.K.