Israel suggested on Monday that it is open to United States-mediated negotiations with Lebanon over a long-standing dispute over a maritime border—and if talks are successful, oil and gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean could receive much needed easing of the tension and positive regulatory and political climate for oil and gas companies. Lebanon—which shares the Levant Basin in the eastern Mediterranean with Israel, Cyprus, and Syria—has been far behind Israel and Cyprus in exploring and developing its share of resources due to political impasse over the past few years, and a dispute with Israel over Lebanon’s southern maritime border. Lebanon and Israel have an unresolved maritime border dispute over a triangular area around 860 square kilometers (332 square miles) that extends along the southern edge of three of Lebanon’s 10 blocks. The Lebanese-Israeli dispute is a long-standing one, but tensions rose again early last year after Lebanon called […]