MOSCOW (AFP) - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas sought on Thursday to secure a billion-dollar Gaza energy deal during talks with Russian leaders aimed at restoring warmer ties between the two Soviet-era allies. Abbas and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were due to sign an intergovernmental agreement that reports said included a $1.0-billion (730-million-euro) natural gas project in the Gaza section of the Mediterranean Sea. The state ITAR-TASS news agency said Russia's natural gas giant Gazprom hoped to produce 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas at the site. The report added that Russia's Technopromexport engineering firm was also considering a small oil development project near the West Bank city of Ramallah. more

A long-mooted $1bn project to develop natural gasfields off the Gaza Strip has won Israeli support in principle and is on track to be given the green light, Palestinian and Israeli government officials said. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is “very supportive” of the project, which would see the fields exploited on behalf of the Palestinian Authority by investors led by BG Group, an Israeli government official involved in the deal told the Financial Times. The fields, which contain about 1tn cubic feet of natural gas – about a third of the UK’s annual consumption of the fuel – would take three to four years to develop, meaning they could be producing gas by 2017. Capital investment in the project would total about $1bn, and it would bring in $6bn to $7bn of revenues a year, some of which would go back into the squeezed Palestinian budget in the form of royalties and taxes and help to defray Ramallah’s chronic fiscal and trade deficits. A senior Palestinian official said that becaus...

(Reuters) - The U.S.-backed Palestinian administration is negotiating with Israel for permission to develop natural gas off the coast of the Gaza Strip, Israeli and foreign diplomats said on Sunday. Mediterranean gas could be a windfall for the Palestinian Authority (PA), which operates under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and has alarmed the World Bank by sinking into fiscal crises amid shortfalls in international aid. As envisaged in the exploratory gas talks initiated by peace envoy Tony Blair, the PA would alone levy tariffs on any eventual revenues from private pumping in Gazan waters, though breakaway Hamas Islamists govern the coastal enclave. Israel, which keeps Gaza under a close maritime blockade, said it had held "initial negotiations" with the PA, and at its behest, about the Palestinian gas. "Development of the Gaza Marine gas field will generate revenues that could contribute dramatically to Palestinian fiscal sustainability," the Israeli ...

CAIRO (Reuters) -- An explosion on Sunday rocked the Egyptian pipeline built to carry natural gas to Israel and Jordan, the 15th time it has been attacked since the start of the uprising in early 2011 that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. The blast occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning at al-Tuwail, east of the coastal Sinai town of el-Arish, at a point before the pipeline splits into separate branches to Israel and Jordan, security officials and witnesses said. Gunmen in a small truck drove up to the pipeline, dug a hole and placed explosive charges under the pipeline that they detonated from a distance, a security official and witnesses said. more

Egypt's national gas company EGAS announced Sunday that it will be cancelling its natural gas supply deal with Israel. Egypt on Sunday notified EMG, the exporter that supplied Israel with natural gas, that the deal will be canceled. Thegdeal was reached in 2005 between the Israeli and Egyptian governments as part of a political agreement according to which Cairo undertook to allocate 7 billion cubic meters (BCM) of Egyptian gas to the Israeli market for 20 years, with an option to double the supply. more

CAIRO, (PIC)-- The Egyptian gas pipeline in northern Sinai Peninsula supplying natural gas to Israel and Jordan was blasted for the 14th time, since 25 January 2011, at dawn Monday. Security sources said that the blast targeted a section of the pipeline in northern Sinai near the entrance to El-Arish city. No party declared responsibility for the attack. The gas agreement between Egypt and Israel is criticized by the Egyptian public, charging that gas was sold to Israel at a very low price compared to the international prices. more

BG Group Plc, the UK’s third-largest oil and gas producer, will sell a gas field off the Gaza Strip after its development was blocked by Israel, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The company may get $70 million to $80 million for the Gaza Marine field, one of the people said, declining to be identified because the talks are private. A spokesman for Reading-based BG declined to comment. BG ended talks with Israel on selling gas from the field in 2008 and closed its office in the nation citing differences over price. The company, which holds a 90 percent stake, discovered about 1 trillion cubic feet of gas in 2000. Israel was also concerned the Hamas Islamic group governing Gaza would get some revenue from the field. Consolidated Contractors Co. has the rest of the license and the Palestinian Authority has an option to acquire a stake. “Israel operates always on the basis of might is right,” said Charles Gurdon, a managing director at Menas Associates, which advises c...

CAIRO (Reuters) -- Saboteurs blew up the gas pipeline between Egypt, Israel and Jordan on Thursday in Northern Sinai using remote controlled bombs, forcing it to shut down, Egyptian security sources said. The first blast, the sixth since the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak and the seventh this year, was near Mazar area, 30 kilometers west of the town of Al-Arish, security sources and witnesses said. Witnesses saw a second, smaller explosion west of Al-Arish near a pumping station, state news agency MENA reported. The report said it was not clear whether any damage was done. The explosions are the first since pumping resumed on Oct. 24. "Primary examination showed that Improvised Explosive Devices were put under the pipeline and were detonated from a distance," a security source told Reuters. "The attackers used two trucks and extended wires were found at the scene," he added. more

Saboteurs blew up an Egyptian pipeline distribution station in northern Sinai on Tuesday that supplies natural gas to Israel, the official MENA news agency said. It was the fourth attack on facilities supplying Egyptian gas to Israel this year. MENA quoted witnesses as saying that the assailants attacked the Al-Tawil security guard before the station, located near the northern town of Al-Arish, was blown up early Tuesday morning. The security guard and some members of his family were believed to have been hurt, the agency said, quoting witnesses. The state's Nile television said flames from the station could be seen up to 20 kilometers away. It gave no details on the causes of the explosion or the extent of the damage. more Jordan is considering an Iranian offer of natural gas supplies due to the persistent disruption of gas pumped via Israel-routed pipeline. Egypt's military rulers have refused to shutdown its supplies to Israel at discounted rates despite overwhelming public...

From Mondoweiss It has been widely reported and speculated that the reason for Greece's participation in the suppression of Freedom Flotilla Two may be found in its own economic situation - that the government of Prime Minister George Papandreou, pushing a devastating IMF/EU austerity plan on the Greek people against their will, is so desperate for international financial and economic support that it is willing to serve as the enforcement arm for Israel's illegal siege on Gaza. Yesterday, in Vancouver, Canada, a Greek consular official, Georgios Ayfantis, confirmed that this is indeed the case. In a conversation with a delegation of activists supporting the Tahrir, the Canadian Boat to Gaza, who entered the consulate demanding a meeting about the Freedom Flotilla, Ayfantis asserted that Greece's economic interests were at stake in stopping the Flotilla, saying that an undersea natural gas pipeline and a natural gas liquidizing plant in Crete were at stake. The offer Neta...

CAIRO (AFP) -- Saboteurs bombed an Egyptian gas pipeline in the Sinai peninsula on Monday, sending flames into the sky and cutting supplies to Israel and Jordan, a security official said. Officials said a car had parked near the pipeline in the Bir Al-Abd area, 80 kilometers from the north Sinai town of El-Arish, shortly before the explosion. They said the bomb was activated remotely. Emergency services were deployed to the area to try to bring the fire under control, an official said. Witnesses said the flames reached as high as 10 meters. There were no immediate reports of casualties. It was the third attack since February, when an uprising toppled former President Hosni Mubarak and saw power handed over to a military council. more

Minister of National infrastructures Dr. Uzi Landau has instructed Noble Energy to develop the Noa North gas reserve in the Noa license. Sources inform "Globes" that the final decision to develop the field came after operator Noble Energy convinced Ministry of National Infrastructures experts that he field did not spill over into other parts of the reserve, which is partly under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority in the economic zone of the Gaza Strip. Up to now, Landau has refrained from ordering development of the Noa field, fearing that this would lead to diplomatic problems vis-à-vis the Palestinian Authority. "Globes" reported in the past that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the matter with President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas. Noble Energy holds 47% of Noa, the other 53% being held by Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG ), mainly through Delek Drilling LP (TASE: DEDR.L ) and Avner Oil and Gas LP (TASE: AVNR.L ). From Globes -...

(pic: Egyptian demonstration against gas exports to Israel that took place on 27 April) CAIRO, ( PIC )-- The Egyptian oil ministry has denied media rumors that Egypt resumed Tuesday pumping gas to Israel. The pipelines exporting the natural gas to Israel and Jordan were sabotaged three times during the popular protests that successfully ousted the former regime headed by Hosni Mubarak. Ministry sources said damage incurred require importing parts from abroad before pipelines are up and running. Reuters said that gas exporter East Mediterranean Company had announced resuming gas exports to Israel after stalling that has lasted over a month. Oil minister Abdullah Gharab denied that political reasons were behind the disruption of gas trade with Israel. Israel said it would resort to international arbitration if Egypt raised gas prices as it has threatened. The occupying state receives 45 percent of its gas needs from the pipeline running through Sinai at a cheap price compared to world ga...

The road to Palestinian liberation runs through Cairo... Israel was receiving 40% of its gas from Egypt under the Mubarak regime and at discount prices, until the second bombing of the export pipeline shut down the trade. Egyptian courts called for the exports to be halted but the Mubarak regime ignored the judgment and the new military rulers have not yet formally ripped up the contract. Demonstrators praise bombing of gas pipeline in Sinai, demand Egyptian government end all cooperation with Israel, open Gaza crossing. Protesters descended on the Israeli embassy in Cairo on Friday, calling for a complete halt in Egyptian cooperation with Israel. One protester said the demonstration was a response to President Shimon Peres's call for Egyptian youth to normalize relations with Israel, AFP reported. more Similar protests took place outside the Israeli consulate in Alexandria. ALEXANDRIA: Over 300 protesters organized Friday a march from Al-Qae'd Ibrahim Mosque to the Israeli e...

Thousands marched on the Israeli embassy in Cairo yesterday in the beginning of a concerted campaign to end collaboration with Israel and cut off all gas supplies. Massed on a bridge next to the high-rise building where the embassy is located, they chanted: "the people demand the cancellation of normalization." They also chanted: "the gas must stop," in reference to natural gas exports through a Sinai pipeline that unidentified saboteurs blew up earlier in the day. One of the protesters, left-wing blogger Hossam Al-Hamalawy, said the demonstration came in response to recent remarks by Israeli President Shimon Peres, who praised the Egyptian revolt that toppled the government in February. "Peres issued a statement recently calling on Egyptian youth to normalize [with Israel], and this is the Egyptian youth's response," he said. more Egypt release nine Palestinian political prisoners yesterday. Another 20 remain incarcerated. Nine Palestinians released f...

An explosion shortly after the start of the Egyptian revolution was blamed by the government on a technical fault which at the time wasn't particularly believable, and the news today of an explosion totally cutting all gas exports confirms Israel's worst fears: if the government doesn't stop selling discounted gas to Israel - providing 40% of the country's needs - then someone else will and is. Egyptian courts recently ruled that the exports of gas at below market prices should cease, but the judges have been overruled by the military. An explosion has rocked a natural gas terminal near Egypt's border with Israel, forcing the shutdown of the country's export pipeline, according to security officials. It was the second incident in the past month on the al-Sabil terminal near the town of El-Arish, 30 miles (50km) from the border. On 27 March gunmen planted explosives at the terminal, which failed to detonate. more

This Bloomberg article focuses on the existential threat to Israel posed by the Egyptian uprising, and of course, by implication, the wider Arab revolutionary movement. Palestinian leaders have been freed from prisons and 60% of Israel's natural gas supply is threatened. Article seems to suggest the pipeline - which has its main metering station at El Arish, scene of battles against the police and other security forces involving bedouins armed with RPGs and the wider population which soon set up its own popular committees - is either down or severely disrupted, although the army is meant to have 'restored order'. Weshah learned about the Cairo protests from watching Egyptian television in a group room in the prison. He described a scene that night, 14 days before Mubarak’s ouster, in which inmates started banging on the walls and bars of their cells and then overpowered guards who responded to the uproar. “It was very scary, with intensive gunfire and prisoners shot dead o...

Two Palestinians were killed by the IDF on Wednesday, Palestinian medics have confirmed. The Israelis claim they were trying to cross the border into Israel. Palestinian fighters have fired mortar rounds into Israel in response. On Tuesday Israel launched air strikes on Gaza alongside a brief incursion. Israel also appears to be stepping up its war against the fishermen of Gaza, shelling their boats and detaining a number . Israel, which recently discovered a large gas field in disputed Mediterranean waters, is determined to grab all the natural resources for itself, including the gas reserves in Gaza's territorial waters.

The Israeli Navy has shot dead a Gaza fisherman as part of its ongoing campaign to wrest control of Palestinian natural gas reserves by making Gaza's territorial waters their own. It's probably no accident that renewed efforts to break the siege by pro-Palestine activists onboard the latest and largest flotilla is heading for the strip. Against the background of Israel's illegal bloackade, seafood is one of the few sources of high-protein food available to Gazans. A Palestinian fisherman was shot dead by the Israeli navy off the blockaded coast of the Gaza Strip on Friday, medics in the enclave said. "Fisherman Mohammed Bakr died by a bullet by the Israeli navy today in the sea north of the Gaza Strip," said Adham Abu Selmiya, who heads the Palestinian territory's medical services. more

As if the outlaw nature of the Israeli state was not already clear, just to make sure we didn't miss anything Israel has made it known, according to Haaretz , that any attempt by the Turkish prime minister to join the next flotilla to Gaza,with a Turkish navy escort, would be treated as an act of war. But what right has Israel to prevent anyone from going to Gaza? Of course, none whatsoever. Israel pays no respect to Gaza's territorial waters - it shoots Gaza's fishermen at will and is attempting to lay claim to the rich deposits of natural gas under the sea. According to a Lebanese report on Saturday, Erdogan is considering traveling to Gaza aboard a Turkish navy vessel accompanying a new attempt by protest boats to break Israel's maritime blockade. On Monday a senior IDF commander said Israel would view an attempt by Erdogan to sail to Gaza as an act of war. "If he comes here with Turkish warships there can be no doubt that it would amount to a declaration of war...