500 TCF of NatGas in the Med…

The guided-missile destroyer USS James E. Williams (DDG 95), front, conducts a replenishment-at-sea with the fleet-replenishment oiler USNS Laramie (T-AO 203) as the guided-missile cruiser USS San Jacinto (CG 56) executes an emergency breakaway while conducting operations with the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) in the Mediterranean Sea, March 7, 2020. (Sawyer Haskins/U.S. Navy photo)

500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas is buried in fields in the Med: who knew? And we thought it was just about shipping stuff from one end of the Mediterranean basin to the other. We still have our base at Sigonella, where Etna has been throwing a fit lately.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/opinions/2021/04/16/geopolitics-of-mediterranean-natural-gas.html

Israel, Egypt and Cyprus all have gas extraction operations going on now in the Med, with a combined total of 80 trillion cubic feet (80 TCF) involved, but the total best estimate for the Mediterranean basin is far higher at 500 TCF. Think about that for a minute: that’s enough natural gas to keep Europe and the North American continent lit and heated and cooking for nearly eternity, never mind other markets. China? They have their own gas and oil fields, thank you, and are exporting oil and gas to Australia and other destinations. They also have their own coal fields and use that commodity to run electric power generating plants. And, no, they don’t care what the ecohippies think or say.

There is the potential for some real prosperity for countries like Egypt and Cyprus. Even Turkey can benefit from this at some point, although currently, most of its petroleum comes by pipelines from Russia and Central Asia.

From the article: The Leviathan and Tamir discoveries have transformed Israel from a net importer of hydrocarbons to a net exporter. Likewise, the Zohr field, when fully developed, will also make Egypt a net exporter of gas. The Levantine gas discoveries have also led to a close working relationship and a pronounced warming of Israel’s relations with Greece and Cyprus. Historically, both of those countries tended to side with the Palestinian Authority and often had frictions with the Israeli government.

For Jerusalem, the export of Israeli gas to its neighbors and its potential involvement in gas exploration elsewhere in the Mediterranean could give it significant diplomatic leverage and lead to an improvement in its relations with many of its Mediterranean neighbors, as well as export access to markets in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Major gas discoveries in their respective portions of the Levantine Basin also could revitalize failed states like Lebanon and Syria. Alternatively, the prospect of a massive hydrocarbon windfall could also catalyze sectarian violence there. – article

While this may make the ecohippies and Greennuts wail and weep, the one thing that gas and petroleum have brought to this planet is low-cost resources for heating and cooking, never mind the byproducts made from the resulting goo that is produced when refining crude oil.  While the current administration has its head stuck up the backsides of the so-called ‘climate movement’ puppets (including Kerry), which wants the world to stop using such things as wood, gas, oil and coal for heating, cooking and producing electricity, this stuff is not going away.

Once the combustible portion of the hydrocarbon molecule is refined into fuel, e.g., cooking/heating gas, gasoline at the pump, etc., the leftover materials are converted into synthetic materials and products that we all take for granted, e.g., plastic storage containers. What? Not the best example? Okay, then the insulation in your winter jacket and the paint on your house are but a few examples. Plastic is a processed hydrocarbon molecule, nothing else, and can be recycled into other products, like roofing materials or those lovely soft seat covers in your car. I have four lovely warm blankets, three of which now belong to my cat, and they are all made of polyester fuzz, which is a petroleum derivative byproduct.

These natural resources will make countries which own them well off enough that some absurd antagonisms may perhaps die away, although the most absurd countries I can come up with right now are Canada (because Trudeau wants everyone to stop using carbon-based fuels) and the UK (becuase Boris’s hippie girlfriend is really, really good at convincing him that anything petroleum-based is poison).

This isn’t going away, and the fact that the Mediterranean basin is this widely-laced with gas deposits is good news. Maybe some day, we’ll have real peace of some kind.

Read the entire article. It is worth your time, so much so that when the “earth first” people try to pick a fight over staying warm or living in a cave, having this kind of info available is a big help to stop their arguments. Just tell them to give up their phones and tablets, which are all made of petroleum-based synthetics, and wait for them to start crying.

Category: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", Global Warming, Israel