Israel's Minister of Energy Yuval Steinitz and Egypt's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla agreed during a meeting in Jerusalem to lay an underwater gas pipeline from the offshore Israeli Leviathan field to the offshore Egyptian liquefaction facility. The pipeline will allow the increase of Israeli gas to Europe due to the rising demand for natural gas. The project will serve as part of the network for the much bigger project to convey gas via an underwater pipeline from Israel to Europe via Greece and Italy.
The meeting today was in the framework of the EastMed Gas Forum (EMGF) formed in January 2020, in which Cyprus, Greece, Italy and the Palestinian Authority are members as well as Israel and Egypt and the UAE has associated status.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined the meeting and said, "This is an important day that symbolizes the new eras of peace and prosperity in the region with the Abraham accords. It all began of course with the historic peace agreement between Israel and Egypt and has now become something that can benefit the economic situations of all the peoples of the region.
El-Molla said, "The good relations between us led to the setting up of the EastMed Gas Forum. We are holding meretings between our teams in order to enlarge and improve the cooperation between the countries in everything related to energy and we expect a fruitful visit."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 21, 2021
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