Energy security in the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

As is widely known, the East Mediterranean region has experienced a series of large-scale discoveries of energy resources offshore Israel, Cyprus and Egypt (Leviathan, Tamar, Aphrodite and Zohr fields) since 2009. From the first moment on, the respective energy findings lying in those countries' Economic Exclusive Zones (EEZ) were cheered as a 'game changer' in the conflict-wracked region and as a means of achieving energy security for both sides: the countries with the energy reserves-ownership (the principal actors) as well as possible energy buyers, especially the energy-suffocated Europe. By examining the geopolitical architecture of the region, however, with regard to the long-lasting ethnical and political conflicts as well as some other economic and political factors pertinent to the confirmed energy amounts, it is argued that the current energy discoveries can hardly provide the long-expected energy security for both regional and non-regional actors in the foreseeable future. Unless circumstances locally, regionally and globally align favourably, the area is unlikely to fulfil its potential as a gas exporter.