ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses maritime boundary disputes in the eastern Mediterranean region. The region has been blessed with a number of natural gas discoveries in the last few decades. Unfortunately, these hydrocarbon discoveries have exacerbated historical disputes between the many rival States in the region. These world-scale resources have, with the exception of producing resources in Egypt, been largely confined to the offshore zones of smaller States such as Israel, Cyprus, and Palestine. Turkey, the region's largest energy importer, and its ally, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) have not, as yet, made any commercial discoveries in their near-shore zones. Not coincidently, they have made the largest maritime zone claims and are involved in most of the unresolved maritime disputes in the region. Unless Turkey agrees to a cooperative solution, trans-Mediterranean pipelines are not likely to be built, and many of the recent gas resources will be restricted for sale to domestic markets with only limited exports via Egyptian liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.
