New gas reserves found in Israel's maritime zone

London: Energean, a British-Greek company, has discovered a large new gas reserve in the Hermes field located in Israeli maritime territory. The company claims that the newly explored Hermes field has the potential of at least 7 to 15 billion cubic meters of gas, which has eased exploration risks in the adjacent fields of Poseidon and Orpheus.

Moreover, the Hermes field is located southeast of the Karish field, a point of dispute between Israel and Lebanon. Israel had given exploration, development, and extraction rights to Energean for this area. The same company is also responsible for the mining of the Karish area. Gas exploration in the Hermes field began after initiating negotiations between the governments of Israel and Lebanon over the Karish dispute.

Just two days ago, Energean’s Stena IceMax drilling vessel revealed the discovery of large oil and gas reserves in the Hermes field with a potential of 7 to 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas. This news was reported to Tel Aviv and the London Stock Exchanges. Energean claims the possibility of extracting higher volumes than predicted once the fields are operational.

Exploration in the Poseidon and Orpheus fields is happening, which are adjacent to the Hermes field. Along with this, the Energean company is also engaged in exploring 23 blocks in Hercules fields off the coast of Israel. After successful exploration in the Hermes field, the Stena IceMax vessel used will now move to block 12 of the Olympus area. This area is claimed to have at least 10 to 12 billion cubic meters of gas reserves in the Zeus field.

Meanwhile, Israel claims all these fuel fields are within its maritime boundaries. But Lebanon, facing a fuel crisis, is also claiming its right. Hezbollah has started to threaten to launch attacks on Israel to gain control over these gas finds. Therefore, a possible conflict can emerge at any moment.