Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Cyprus today to meet with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and discuss cooperation on energy, among other things. He was accompanied by Prime Minister's Office director general Eli Groner and National Security Council head Yossi Cohen. The Cypriot Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Energy also took part in the meeting.
Possible cooperative ventures include laying a natural gas pipeline to connect Israel, Cyprus, and Europe. "By 2018-2019, gas from east Med may find its way to Greece and through Greece to the rest of Europe, providing diversification and security of supply as well diversification of routes," Dimitris Manolis, director of international activities at the Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI) project, told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference in Vienna. "The new fields in eastern Mediterranean - Tamar, Leviathan and Block 12 - are three of the (world's) top five largest discoveries of the decade," he stated, adding that consumers in Western Europe were looking for alternatives to diminish their dependence on Russian gas suppliers.
Another possible area of cooperation involves the electricity sector. Last November, Cyprus reported that the European Union would contribute €1.32 million to assessing the viability of an undersea electric cable from Hadera to Vasilikos in Cyprus, and from there to Crete and Athens, as part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) project. This 1,518-kilomater cable is designed to facilitate two-way transmission of electricity, and will have a 2,000 megawatt capacity.
Anastasiades visited Israel last month for a series of meetings with President Reuven Rivlin and Netanyahu. He also met with Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) controlling shareholder Yitzhak Tshuva for the purpose of promoting a plan for development of the Aphrodite natural gas reservoir in Cyprus, held by Delek Group and Noble Energy.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 28, 2015
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