Major oil deposits in Israel

[the_tyrant]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15037533

Prospectors in Israel say hundreds of feet below the ground lies shale rock that can be converted into billions of barrels of oil. But environmentalists say it's a disaster waiting to happen.

what interests me is this:

Mr Nguyen's company claims Israel may turn out to have oil deposits comparable to Saudi Arabia, which sits on an estimated 260 billion barrels.

potentially its possible for this find to change the power balance in the middle east

[Torplexed]

Well, for almost seventy years the US has been Israel's firmest, staunchest ally through thick and thin.

Finally, here comes the payoff---first dibs on sales of the black gold!!!!

[magicstix]

Great, as if the Arabs needed *another* reason to go to war with Israel...

[the_tyrant]

I'm thinking something like this can happen:

lets say Saudi Arabia asks the US for new tanks. Israel can simply provide cheap oil to the US in exchange for not giving Saudi Arabia the tanks.

I think this can be a major game changer

[QUARRY]

How much oil is there to make it to strategically opportunities to keep and share with weapons, other buyers are in the queue already, if interest continues long enough.

Given Israels water supply problems this find might not be such good news.

[Jimbuna]

Mr Nguyen's company claims Israel may turn out to have oil deposits comparable to Saudi Arabia, which sits on an estimated 260 billion barrels.

Could lead to interesting changes in the area.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

Well, for almost seventy years the US has been Israel's firmest, staunchest ally through thick and thin.

Finally, here comes the payoff---first dibs on sales of the black gold!!!!

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by magicstix

Great, as if the Arabs needed *another* reason to go to war with Israel...

Good point.

[Tchocky]

Originally Posted by Tribesman

Given Israels water supply problems this find might not be such good news.

Bingo.

Expecially considering shale production is incredibly wasteful of water, and I don't think the Jordan can keep up with even current demands.

[MH]

With the new experimental technology one of the by products may be water.

[Diopos]

Ok, this answers the question of when there will be a functional Palestinian state ... when the (oil)wells dry out ...



.

[August]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

Bingo.

Although if it's worth the kind of money they're estimating i'd think Israel could afford to build a bunch of Desalination plants and get their water from the Med.

[Betonov]

Desalinization technology made it easier
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis

It's getting water around that's the problem. Anywhere away from the coast is an uphill journey. Unles you're Dutch. All those pumps and reservoirs

Any news how the Saudi's reacted to this ??

[MH]

Originally Posted by August

Although if it's worth the kind of money they're estimating i'd think Israel could afford to build a bunch of Desalination plants and get their water from the Med.

Israel to focus on desalination to deal with water woes

Plan proposes creation of desalination plants on offshore man-made islands because of the difficulty in finding land for building such plants on beaches.







Israel will have to invest NIS 200 billion over the next four decades in the development of water installations, but will also be in a position to do so without raising the cost of water to the consumer, according to the blueprint plan for water development recently approved by the Water Authority Council.
The plan also proposes the creation of desalination plants on offshore man-made islands because of the difficulty in finding land for building such plants on the beaches.
The Hadera desalination plant. Controlled by IDE.
Photo by: Eyal Toueg
Based on the new plan, expanding the availability of water in Israel will focus on desalination plants. This will make it possible to draw less water from natural water sources, thereby allowing them to be restored to higher levels. The focus on desalination also lessens the risks posed by higher reliance on water resources like Lake Kineret.
The amount of water allocated to agriculture will not drop, however it will be based on purified sewage and non-potable water drawn from water holes.
The plan proposes forging ahead with the goals set by the government, reaching 750 cubic meters of desalinated water in a decade, or double the current capacity.
Beginning in the next decade, it will be necessary to double desalination capacity again - by 2050.
The calculations in the plan show that Israel will require an additional 1.5 billion cubic meters of water, in the coming years, beyond that which is available to it. A third will be used to supply Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.
The authors of the plan, members of the planning department of the Water Authority, estimate that consumption per person per year will not reach 110 cubic meters, as previous estimates claimed. It is expected to stand at 95 cubic meters, in spite the expected rise in standards of living. The main reasons for this are the greater efficiency in water usage as well as the use of purified sewage water in public gardens.
The authors of the plan claim that there is a delay in the building of installations for purifying water that has been polluted or which became salty.
This delay stems from problems they say are being caused by the Environment Ministry, which issues permits for the removal of the salt that is collected during the purifying process, and subsequently dumped into the sea.
"As a result, dozens of such projects are not advancing and the rehabilitation of natural water sources is being undermined," the blueprint states.
A senior source in the Environment Ministry strongly denied these claims. He said that the Water Authority did not make use of any of the locations designated for dumping salt into the sea. He said that the ministry agreed to consider authorizing the dumping of salt in any place where there were polluted wells, but that the Water Authority did not ask the ministry to do so.
The source also claimed that the Water Authority was expected to present plans in which they would detail the amount of water they expected to clean, but that no such plans were presented to the Environment Ministry.

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