Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz met Sunday with a senior United States official seeking to defuse an escalating oil and gas dispute with Lebanon, his office says.
A statement from his spokesman says Steinitz held talks with Acting Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield about conflicting claims to energy reserves off the coasts of Lebanon and Israel.
An Israeli Navy Sa’ar 5 corvette defends a natural gas extraction platform off Israel’s coast, in an undated photograph. (Israel Defense Forces)
The leader of Lebanese Shiite terror group Hezbollah said on Friday that Lebanon was strong enough to withstand US and Israeli pressure and to put Israeli gas rigs out of action.
Last week Lebanon signed its first contract to drill for oil and gas in a pair of offshore zones, including one that its southern neighbor Israel says belongs to it.
Lebanese officials have said the whole zone belongs to Beirut while Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has insisted it is solidly in Israeli territory.
Sunday’s statement quotes Steinitz as telling Satterfield that “a diplomatic solution is preferable for both sides.”
— AFP
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