Israel the oil power?

[Cain]

Oh goddamnit

http://isnblog.ethz.ch/international-relations/israel-the-oil-power

In late 2010, the World Energy Council estimated that Israel had reserves of up to 4 billion barrels of oil shale. More recently, the 'Israel Energy Initiative' estimated that Israel is actually sitting on reserves of 250 billion barrels (to put this number in perspective, Saudi Arabia's reserves mount up to 260 billion barrels of conventional oil). If proven, this would make Israel home to the third largest oil shale deposits after the United States and China. So how come this story is not making the headlines?

Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen from which liquid hydrocarbons, called shale oil, can be produced. Unlike conventional oil, it has to be heated up to a sufficiently high temperature in order to reach a liquid state. Up until now, the extraction of oil shale has been branded as a dirty business that causes a wide range of environmental problems. Additionally, the availability of relatively cheap conventional oil has prevented the production of unconventionals from being economically viable.

New technologies, however, are being deployed to extract Israeli oil shale. The 'In-Situ Conversion Process' used by the Israel Energy Initiative enables the extraction of oil from the rocks without mining by separating the shale rock 300 meters underground. The company claims that this method is cheaper and circumvents major environmental concerns. Having received a license from the state to carry out geological survey drilling in 2009, the project is currently in its pilot phase, which aims to demonstrate the technological capability, the economical viability and the environmental feasibility of the enterprise. If everything runs smoothly, the company expects to produce commercial quantities by the end of this decade, with an estimated production capacity of 50'000 barrels a day.

If the project is successful, it could have a huge impact on the global oil market. Spreading the technology around the world could mean a shift in production focus from the Persian Gulf, thereby reducing dependency on authoritarian regimes. Due to Israel's geopolitical importance, the already strong economic and political ties the country enjoys with the West are most likely to deepen even further. Nonetheless, the project still remains controversial with many environmentalist groups already raising objections. Accordingly, it still might be a long time before Israel has a dominant role in global energy matters. Indeed one might also ask if it's not too short-sighted to build on yet another fossil fuel based resource instead of diverting investments to a more sustainable form of energy.

Prediction: this will not lead to "deepening ties", instead, it will lead to Israel being even more obnoxious, show more contempt for international law and human rights, and probably undermine what is already a somewhat shaky democracy.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Uh oh.

[Cain]

I just think of Saudi Arabia, and all the crap they pull.  Plus there is one other nuclear armed energy superpower...and that is Russia.  And sure, you could say, well, Russia was just recovering from a terrible crash and lots of political instability, and cannot be easily compared to Israel...well, there are a lot of Israelis nowadays who are from Russia, and hold some rather typically Russian views on politics.

Oil wealth will also end up increasing the gap in earnings that exists, leading to more political instability by default.  There is a reason resource-rich nations are rarely happy places, after all...

[hirley0]

I just Oil weal, after all...

O

[Junkenstein]

Very interesting. The question that springs to mind is how much is Israeli and how much is Palestinian? There's been no let up on settlers moving into "Palestine" land, could this be yet another reason why?

Am I being cynical imagining the eventual creation of a Palestinian state provided they give up areas X, Y, and Z? Just guessing that the ideology may take a step back when the final numbers are in and people can see the potential profit.