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...

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by magicstix

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

Good point.

[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!!!!

[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.

[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.

[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.