Israel and Cyprus are closing in, on an agreement to build a pipeline from Israeli gas fields to Cypriot shores, according to Reuters.
In particular, after a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides last week, the two sides expressed confidence that they would be able to negotiate a deal to bring both nations’ gas to market.
This connection will launch Israel’s economy to new heights and strengthen Israel’s status as an important international energy provider. Europe needs energy, it needs gas, and creating an easy and inexpensive gas supply from Israel and Europe will strengthen Israel’s position very much.
…Netanyahu told Reuters after a cabinet meeting Sunday.
This plan is essentially one-half of the abandoned EastMed proposal, a defunct project to lay a massive subsea pipeline from Israel to Cyprus to Greece. If built, it would have supplied about 10 percent of Europe’s gas consumption from Cypriot and Israeli offshore fields.
However, EastMed was unacceptable to Turkey’s political leaders, who felt left out of a deal that would make other regional players wealthy (including rivals Greece and Cyprus).
It will be a corridor, that will exist. Instead of a pipeline, it will be a connection between Israel and Europe which can be done through Cyprus.
…Papanastasiou said.
Cyprus and Israel have still come up with a non-Turkish route to deliver their gas to Europe.
