European Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, along with the energy ministers of Cyprus, Greece, Israel and Italy, will take part in the EastMed Energy summit in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday 3 April. Developments in the energy sector in the region, the potential of gas from the Eastern Mediterranean and options for meeting the needs of the Israeli and European gas markets will all be discussed.
Since the end of the first decade of this century, significant natural gas reserves have been discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean off the coasts of Israel, Cyprus and Egypt.
Cyprus, Greece and Israel have been working since the start of 2016 on the EastMed gas pipeline project which will link their gas markets and export the natural gas discovered off the Cypriot and Israeli coasts to the rest of Europe. EastMed aims to carry close to 15 billion cubic metres of gas to Europe, according to the project promoter, the Greek-Italian consortium IGI-Poseidon (see EUROPE 11479).
In the summer of 2016, Cyprus and Egypt signed an agreement for the construction by 2020-2022 of a gas pipeline between the two countries under the Mediterranean Sea to carry Cypriot gas to Egypt for local consumption or re-export (see EUROPE 11615).
The European Commission says that the Eastern Mediterranean gas finds could play an important role in helping both producing and neighbouring countries address their energy security problems and in the EU’s diversification strategy.
“In this context, the EastMed Gas Pipeline is one of the possible future infrastructure options to bring gas reserves of the East Med region to Europe and other international markets”, states the Commission, noting that ending energy islands and diversifying EU gas supplies are key objectives of the Juncker Commission.
“In the next decades, gas flows from the Eastern Mediterranean region will play a vital role in the energy security of the European Union. The Commission strongly supports the construction of the necessary energy infrastructure and developing a competitive and liquid gas market in the region”, said Cañete before travelling to Tel Aviv. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)