Link to article: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-middle-east-israel-cyprus-1ada25ca19499e846f845ca736566faa
On Monday, Israel and Cyprus said they had made “significant” progress in resolving a long-running dispute over an offshore natural gas deposit and are dedicated to reaching a deal as quickly as possible. Energy Minister Natasa Pilides and her Israeli counterpart, Karine Elharrar, held talks in the Cypriot capital. both said their goal was a “fair and swift resolution.” Israel claims that some of Cyprus’ Aphrodite deposit, around 4.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, lies within its Ishai field along an offshore demarcation line separating the economic zones of Israel and Cyprus. With Russia cutting back on natural gas supplies to Europe and increasing prices and the European Union confirming that natural gas could act as a bridge fuel until 2050, a heightened sense of urgency has been added to negotiations over this matter, which have been going on for many years. Pilides said that significant progress has been made and that discussions will continue in the following weeks. Chevron, Schell and Israeli NewMed Energy own the drilling rights to the Aphrodite field and claim a plan to use the deposit will be ready by december and work will be done to find the true size of the deposit.
The need for non-russian supplied fuel has spurred many nations into action to find new sources of oil and natural gas. Russia also losses income when european nations stop buying its fuel. Israel will contest for the deposit as it is valuable and lies partially within its borders. the most likely outcome will be Cyprus gains access to drill the deposit as well as the part within Israel’s demarcation line, but will pay a percentage or royalty to Israel to compensate the country. either way, the decision will be made quickly as both nations want to start using the deposit as soon as possible and would like to waste as little time as possible on negotiations.
This relates to class in many ways. The economic incentives that push both nations to contest for the deposit due to Russia and Ukraine. The IGO that is the European Union that allows Europe to use Natural Gas until 2050 as it works towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Major companies also play a key role as they own the drilling rights and will benefit from having high demand for the natural gas that only they can drill.