Enormous natural gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean have attracted the attention of the international energy majors. The region, however, remains one of the most under-explored and -exploited regions in the world. Numerous technical, commercial, legal and political challenges need to be overcome for these resources to be exploited and exported. This article examines the key commercial and legal challenges the region faces, and proposes possible ways to overcome these challenges by discussing the international law on the delimitation of maritime boundaries and the customary international law obligations of states in the region to resolve delimitation disputes peacefully, to make every effort to enter into provisional arrangements of a practical nature pending agreement on final delimitation and to refrain from unilaterally exploiting natural resources in disputed maritime zones.

东地中海巨大的天然气储量引起了国际能源专业人士的关注。但是，该地区仍然是世界上开发程度最低和开发程度最高的地区之一。为了开发和出口这些资源，需要克服许多技术，商业，法律和政治挑战。本文探讨了该地区面临的主要商业和法律挑战，并通过讨论有关海洋边界划界的国际法和该地区各国和平解决划界争端的习惯国际法义务，提出了克服这些挑战的可能方法，