In Nicosia on Tuesday 5 December, the energy ministers of Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of an undersea gas pipeline, EastMed, to carry the gas recently discovered in the eastern Mediterranean to the markets of South Europe.
This project will “secure a direct long-term export route from Israel and Cyprus to Greece, Italy and other European markets” … “thereby strengthening EU’s security of supply”, says a statement in which the four countries pledge to cooperate “in order to facilitate the necessary studies, the permitting, the construction and the operation of the project”.
The 2,000-kilometre-long pipeline costing close to €5 billion will run from the Leviathan field off the coast of Israel to the Aphrodite field off Cyprus then on to Crete, Greece or Italy. It could be operational by 2025.
Cypriot Energy Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis hailed the signing of the memorandum of understanding as “a very significant milestone … which outlines the political commitment of the four countries to pursue this project”. He said East Med is “a very important pillar” of the natural gas corridor from the eastern Mediterranean to the EU.
The EU is providing up to €2 million to help finance preparatory technical design studies for this project selected among the energy infrastructure projects of common interest (PCI) which it supports financially (see EUROPE 11761). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)