Announcement soon on first Palestinian gas field off Gaza – reports

US and British energy sources expect the announcement of an US-Israeli-Palestinian agreement in Washington and London for the exploitation of the gas field discovered in 2000 opposite the Gaza Strip.

Designated “Gaza Marine,” the field has an estimated one trillion cubic feet-tcf of gas. This would be enough to supply all the power stations planned for the West Bank as well as all of the Gaza Strip’s fuel needs,

Those sources say the agreement followed Israel’s consent to remove the Gaza field from its Exclusive Economic Zone and transfer sovereignty to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. Israel also agreed to place the prospective gas field outside the area covered by its naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, former British premier Tony Blair and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were accordingly able to come to terms on the Gaza gas field issue. Now they are considering ways and means of transfering the gas from the offshore field to the West Bank.