BBN: Natural gas basins could turn the Mediterranean into a “sea of prosperity ”

Natural gas basins could turn the Mediterranean into a “sea of prosperity,” but there is a risk that politics may hamper economic progress, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned.

“The biggest problem in the eastern Mediterranean is not the existence of reserves, it is the potential that politics may supersede the economy,” Fatih Birol, the IEA’s chief economist, told daily Hürriyet.

“If this settles down, I believe eastern Mediterranean gas will raise the prosperity of regional countries and could become an important alternative to Russian gas,” he said.

There is now considerable evidence showing that more than 3 trillion cubic meters of gas is present in the eastern Mediterranean. 
The rich natural gas fields discovered in the eastern Mediterranean have been engendering excitement in all countries of the region.
Cyprus discovered an average of 7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in December 2011 in one field offshore, close to where Israel reported major finds within its own maritime boundaries.  MORE