Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said in June that if Lebanon tried to interfere with Israeli drilling, his country would not hesitate to use force.
Potential buyers worry that their dream of a serene retreat could turn into a nightmare of water wells contaminated by drilling chemicals, country roads choked by truck traffic and views blighted by noisy industrial activity.
A study in 2009 by the government's Energy Information Administration found that with unlimited offshore drilling, the country would produce 500,000 more barrels a day, but on the world market, that would translate to prices of only 3 cents a gallon less for American drivers.
Shell drilled the country's first successful well in 1956, and has since dominated Nigeria's oil sector, through decades of civil war, military rule and authoritarian governments.
In light of increasing interest in underwater mining and drilling, certain countries – especially Russia – are looking to lay claim on large tracts of ocean floor.
The drills — the country's largest in 20 years — center on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, and involve 19,000 Swedish troops and about 1,500 from the United States, Norway, France, and other NATO countries.
The company piled up debt to finance a frenzy of land acquisition and drilling across the country, and its stock has lost about half of its value.
Plummeting natural gas prices have put Chesapeake, the nation's second-largest gas producer after Exxon Mobil, in a squeeze in recent months, upending a business model that led the company to pile up debt, with long-term liabilities of $13 billion as of March 31, to finance a frenzy of land acquisition and drilling across the country.
Egypt is not a major oil producer, and Western oil and gas companies have halted most drilling in the country.
We have long advocated for increased drilling off the country's coasts, as long as it is smartly regulated.
