Lazar Berman is the diplomatic reporter for The Times of Israel
Days after Israel signed a maritime border agreement with Lebanon, Prime Minister Yair Lapid visited the Karish herbal fuel box to see the production procedure that began last week.
During his stopover at the fuel platform off Israel’s northern coast on Sunday, Lapid proclaimed that the box is Israel’s “economic and energy future. “
“Producing fuel from the Karish box will reduce energy prices in Israel, make Israel a regional energy supplier and Europe will deal with the energy crisis,” Lapid continued, speaking from a fuel platform.
Europe’s main energy costs, a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a lack of investment in reliable domestic resources, are under political and economic strain as the continent approaches winter.
The prime minister added that Karish’s herbal fuel will reduce the burden of living in Israel, a vital political factor ahead of Tuesday’s election.
Lapid won a briefing on the online page of Shaul Zemach, Israel’s country manager for Energean, the London-listed company that extracts fuel from the Karish and Tanin fields. Energy production in Karish on Wednesday, one day before the signing of the Lebanese-Israeli agreement in Naqurah.
With the start of production, Karish links Tamar and Leviathan to Israel’s third offshore box supplying natural gas, each connected to the mainland through a separate infrastructure.
Prior to the recent maritime boundary agreement reached between Israel and Lebanon, the Hezbollah terror organization, which introduced drones into Karish in July, had threatened attacks if Israel proceeded with extracting fuel in the disputed area.
The maritime boundary agreement went into effect Thursday night after a rite at a UN base near the border.
The agreement was signed earlier Thursday by outgoing Lebanese President Michel Aoun in Beirut and Lapid in Jerusalem, and went into effect after the documents were handed over at the rite to U. S. mediator Amos Hochstein, who signed himself.
The deal paved the way for both sides to interact in lucrative offshore grass fuel extraction after years of disagreements over drilling rights.
U. S. President Joe Biden drafted a letter to Lapid in which he assures the United States’ commitment to the full implementation of the agreement with Lebanon and Israel’s economic and security rights contained in the agreement, a senior US official said late Saturday.
The text of the letter finalized between Israel and the United States on Friday and Biden is expected to signal it earlier this week, the official said.
In the letter, Biden underscored the U. S. commitment to supporting Israel’s ability to protect itself by adding its fuel infrastructure and ships in the Mediterranean.
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