Saudi Arabia’s oily lies at COP26
Saudi Arabia plans to be carbon neutral by 2060, and says it will use carbon capture and storage technologies to get it there. Greenpeace calls its bluff.
natural gas
Israel approves 30% renewables goal for 2030: Revolution or low bar?
Israel lays down a plan to produce 30% of its energy by 2030 by renewables. Energy experts say this aim is too low.
What we can learn about renewable energy from Australia
With a bounty of sun, the giant island nation and continent of Australia is landlocked. Like any island nation that is restricted from movement because of political or territorial disputes, nations like Australia, Switzerland or Israel learn that they need to be self-sufficient and fend for themselves. They create a local and sustainable food supply, […]
What are the Health Costs of Israeli Energy Security?
"We don't want to play Russian roulette with our children's health," a Haifa resident said before the natural gas purge.
The Mediterranean Sea natural gas purge starts amid protests in Israel
Israel's natural gas well starts flowing, amid protests and fears over pollution at sea and in the air. Conflict constraints have forced well operators to build rigs closer to shore than normally recommended.
Israel’s first natural gas customers to be Palestinians
Israel’s Leviathan Partners natural gas production consortium has signed its first gas export agreement with a Palestinian power company.
Experts at US-Arab Policy Conference debate Mideast’s future as global energy supplier
How relevant will OPEC be 10 years from now? Does the rapid expansion of new technologies like fracking threaten the future of eco-friendly energy alternatives such as wind and solar energy?
Israel’s Energy Industries Wins Power From Garbage Contract in Ghana
Who says that garbage can’t be used to create energy, including electricity? The same garbage that created eyesores like the Tel Aviv Garbage Mountain, where Israel hopes to build the Middle East’s largest recycling plant will also be used to create power from natural gas.
The Gulf Monarchies and Climate Change – A Book Review
Working in Qatar has clearly given the academic Mari Luomi access to lots of information about the climate change rhetoric and reality of the Gulf. It also puts her in a rather awkward position in terms of being able to voice her criticism. After interviewing Luomi for Green Prophet around a year ago, however, I […]
Will Israel’s Natural Gas Tap Flow to Turkey?
Improvement of Turkish and Israeli ties could make Istanbul a hub for Israeli natural gas deliveries to Europe The discovery and development of large natural gas deposits by Israel in the eastern Mediterranean by local and foreign energy companies such as Delek Energy and Noble Energy has become a game changer for Israel. Up to now, […]
Turkish Conglomerate Plans Undersea Pipeline To Import Israeli Gas
The Zorlu Group, one of Turkey’s biggest business conglomerates, has its eyes on another behemoth: Israel’s largest gas field, the Leviathan. Under a new plan proposed by Zorlu, an undersea pipeline would deliver 8-10 billion cubic meters of natural gas each year from the Leviathan, 130 kilometers west of Haifa, to Turkey’s southern coast, reports […]
Israel to Drill for Oil in Underwater Nature Reserve Illuminates Schizophrenic Government Policies
An absurd situation where one ministry approves the marine reserve and and another gives a license for oil drilling. Nothing new for Israel. If Greenpeace has won the battle against Zara and its use of toxic chemicals, this new potential environmental threat should have the Greenpeace Mediterranean headquarters on full alert: the Israeli government eager […]
Egypt’s Natural Gas Push Does Little to Curtail Murderous Air Pollution
With air pollution 100x worse than NYC the news doesn’t look good for 2013 even though Cairo taxis were offered free natural gas tanks. Two years ago when the Egyptian government began fully implementing taxis run on natural gas, there was much praise and fanfare. Air pollution was at monumental levels in the Egyptian capital […]
Qatar Airways Praised for its Natural Gas/Biofuel Push to the Skies
Cheaper flights for all? If Qatar’s “Pearl project” can develop the natural gas industry for planes, it could translate into reducing overall costs for US carriers. Qatar Airways ambitious new plan to erect a $19 billion Pearl project that will be the largest gas-to-liquids plant in the world, is receiving massive praise and optimism over its future […]
Israeli Fuel Company Tries Out Gasoline – Methanol Fuel Mixture
A woman fills up car in Haifa with methanol and gasoline fuel mixture. More bang for her buck? Photo: Haaretz/David Bachar Alternative car fuel mixtures have been talked about for years. Many gas stations in the US incorporate ethanol into their blends, all the way to fuel made from human and animal “poop”. More recently, […]
USA Fracking Will Top Saudi Oil Production in Five Years
The United States is poised to become the world’s largest oil producer by 2020 thanks to increased output of new exploration technologies such as fracking. But what does this mean for politics? The World Energy Outlook 2012 released by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that America will surpass Russia and Saudi Arabia as […]
Qatar Airways Hopes Natural Gas Will Battle Climate Change, Lower Prices
Qatar Airways’ natural gas push could help combat climate change, reduce costs for passengers. Photo: Qatar Airways With massive natural gas reserves, it is a wonder that Qatar has not pushed natural gas for the aviation industry. Granted, no country, or airline, has made the move to gas, but Qatar and its flagship Qatar Airways hopes […]
Noble Energy May be Pushing its Luck by Drilling for Deep Oil in the Med
Satellite view of Deepwater Horizen oil spill slick, April 30, 2010: Photo by US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Noble Energy, the Houston based energy company, has been working with both Israel and Cyprus to find commercial quantities of natural gas under the eastern Mediterranean seabed . Noble Energy’s Mediterranean undersea energy exploration has […]
Israel’s Offshore Natural Gas Good to Burn for 150 Years – If Handled Wisely
Drilling for natural gas is one thing, but getting it safely ashore with terror elements in the region is another. Ever since the news broke a few years back that natural gas exploration companies, headed by entrepreneurs like Yitzhak Tshuva had located large deposits of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean, the race has been […]
Mediterranean Agency Could Avert Offshore Marine Disasters
As Israeli rigs start drilling for natural gas, a new disaster prevention agency is proposed to avert another BP-Florida Gulf disaster. Environmentalists have proposed a new government body that might head off ecological catastrophes on Israel’s Mediterranean coast. The new agency could set policy more efficiently by streamlining the powers currently shared by several different […]
Israel’s Petroleum Council Adds Environment Reps
Meged oil field, in Israel. Last week two environmental representatives were added to Israel’s Petroleum Council, according to the Jerusalem Post. The council has been restructured to include a total of 13 members, including seven members of the public. As Israel’s ongoing court dispute between government officials and national gas distributors proves, the industry has […]
Turkey Begins Controversial Drilling In Cyprus
Turkey has started exploratory drilling for oil and gas in the town of Iskele in northern Cyprus (red arrow), angering the government of the Greek-controlled southern region. The Turkish Petroleum Corporation began onshore drilling operations on April 26 at a 3,000-meter-deep well, named “Türkyurdu-1” (“Turkish Homeland”), which Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız called a “force for […]
Egypt Slashes Longstanding Gas Deal With Israel
Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company announced on Sunday that they have cancelled their agreement to sell natural gas to Israel following at least one dozen attacks on the pipeline linking the two countries. Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said the move was of “great concern,” but Egypt insists that the decision was motivated purely by commercial […]
How can the Arab World Benefit from Climate Change Negotiations in Qatar?
The last international climate change negotiation (COP17) took place in Durban in 2011 and the outcomes were pretty disappointing given the urgency of the matter in hand. Unsatisfactory outcomes aside, climate change negotiations have been providing momentous opportunities for NGOs, individuals and the private sector to engage and exchange ideas on solutions to climate change mitigation. […]
Despite Current Gas Shortages, Israel Prepares To Export Natural Gas
Oil refinery in the Haifa Port. Though Israeli electricity prices rose nearly 9 percent at the end of last month due to reported natural gas shortages, Israel’s energy ministry has decided that Israel will export half of the natgas it pumps from its offshore reserves in the Mediterranean Sea. Called the Zemach Committee, and led […]