Report: Qatar offering Israel gas ?
One of my friends sent me this news report, that states that Qatar will be offering to sell gas "lower than the market price" to Israel !
According to Arab media, Qatari industry minister tells Israeli counterpart his country ready to supply natural gas to Jewish state 'for an unlimited period of time and below market prices'
First of all, there's no such minister in Qatar called "Hassan Fakhro", second, what's in it for Israel to publish such news and where is the transparency in all of this? Shouldn't the gov't deny \ approve this news, rather than leaving people questioning what's going on ?
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4064547,00.html
Several newspapers and Internet forums in the Arab world are reporting that Qatar has expressed its willingness to supply natural gas to Israel instead of Egypt. The reports' sources have not been disclosed.
Full story
According to the reports, Qatar's Industry and Commerce Minister Hassan Abdulla Fakhro told his Israeli counterpart in a phone conversation that his country was willing to export natural gas to the Jewish state "for an unlimited period of time and below market prices"
The Israeli minister, the reports said, "voiced his appreciation for the Qatari government's stance" on the issue.
It should be noted that Qatar is an important player in the global natural gas market. It controls 15% of the world's gas reserves and is considered a leading global supplier in this field
Reports on talks between Israel and Qatar on the issue of a gas deal have surfaced in the past. Initial talks were held in the early 1990s, but in 1997 Israel declared that the option was no longer on the table.
In 1998, then-Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met with the Qatari energy minister and discussed the possibility of importing natural gas from his country. The talks did not materialize into a deal.
It is unclear whether the reports published Wednesday are true. The attempt to link Qatar to Israel may have been initiated by different Arab elements as an "act of revenge" following the coverage of the recent revolutions in the Arab world by the al- al-Jazeera network, which is owned by the government in Doha.
cake !!!
fake!!!!
Countries sell at different rates o different parties - depending on relationships and strategic goals...
Qatari-femme be realistic and stop living in the past its not really that Israel is a threat specially to the nations in this part of the world but its their very leaders who are a threat to their nations and to their people. Look around and see all the butchering and killings of their own people being done by their very own leaders in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and so on.
Why didn't the local newspaper publish the wikileaks documents detailing conversations between the US and Qatar regarding Israel?
Asking why the local newspapers don't publish stories of any real weight has to be a rhetorical question. We all know that censorship is alive and well in Qatar.
To me, it could be true, it could be false. Either way, I don't see what the big deal is. Is Qatar some sort of special country that can't have economic ties to Israel, when the rest of the Arab world does? Dream on.
If no one cared when Egypt was selling the gas, they can't pretend to care when Qatar does.
It is difficult to believe on the face of it. In case of Egypt, Mubarak was always known to be pro-Israely and hence the trade which is not in the case of any other Arab country.
Egypt has all sorts of relations with Israel, and that goes back all the way to the peace accords between these two countries.
But when Qatar or other Middle Eastern nation, establish any sort of relations, specially economical one with Israel, it doesn't look so good, knowing that Israel is seen as a threat to many nations, and the on-going Israeli-Palestinian conflict and asymmetrical war between them, which many nations are dealing with at least by boycotting Israel economically.
My question in all of this, why didn't we see this report in any Qatari newspaper, and if it is wrong, why we didn't hear of any Qatari official?
Market price is perhaps a misnomer. It's like Boeing and Airbus selling planes at a discount to the list price. No one pays retail :p
Qatar hasn't spent billions of dollars to dramatically increase its gas output to not sell gas to people. The national budget is straining under the weight of the world cup infrastructure needs (hence the increase in petrol prices, hiring freezes at QP and drastic cost cutting across government departments).
The news doesn't really surprise me.
So where is the problem. Its just a part of the greater ecconomic global situation relating to supply and demand. The americans and europeans cannot take it all and so others have to step in. In fact the Chinese and the Indians purchase a lot more of it then the so called rich nations.
I think selling below market price made it newsworthy. Preferential treatment to Israel?
I find that had to believe.
What's so shocking about this? Egypt sold gas to Israel for years and no one cared. But if Qatar sold gas to Israel, that would be newsworthy?
Why is it different for Qatar to sell gas to Israel when other Arab countries have commercial relationships with Tel Aviv?
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/israel-may-import-qatari-gas-1.244048
I don't really see what the problem is. According to Haartz , they are initial talks.
Qatar has always been progressive in its thinking and this may be helpful in the long term in beringing Israel to the batgaining table for the recognition of a Palestinian state.
I think that they are referring to Egypt, because I read that same news in the Egyptian newspaper, few days ago.
It IS fake, they mentioned a name which doesn't even exist.
The thing is, that's why Qatari media along with the government, should do more when it comes to transparency, so everyone can put an end to these rumors
Looks fake..
And where in Arab media has this news been published?
I didn't come across anything.