Forbes article on pipeline project vindicates Karamanlis energy policies

The following article appeared in Forbes recently and simply vindicates the policies that were adopted by the Costas Karamanlis government which wanted to transform Greece into an energy hub for all of Europe. It should be reiterated that the pipeline projects were more or less sabotaged under the George Papandreou government, who also once said that natural gas and oil does not exist in Greece (of course today, we know that this statement was a complete lie). Also, we know today that specific American diplomats (such as Mathew Bryza) worked hard against this development (because he was endorsing Turkish interests which want the pipelines running through Turkey instead).

Here is the article:

     As much of Europe spent the last month worrying about what might happen if Russia decided to shut the valve on its gas supply, Athens has apparently decided the time is right to push a new energy role. This week, Greece’s Energy Ministry launched an international tender for a pipeline project that would transport about 8 billion cubic meters of gas into the European market from offshore fields controlled by Cyprus and Israel. According to a Reuters report, the project would link Israel’s Leviathan natural gas field to Europe by way of Greece through the IGI-Poseidon pipeline, managed by Italy’s Edison and Greece’s state-backed utility, DEPA.
     For Israel, the pipeline would provide the country’s first long-distant export option. Israel has recently announced a series of export agreements for its offshore efforts, 40 percent of which is allotted for sale outside of the country. However, so far, they have all been local, including sales to Jordan, Palestinian utilities and talks with both Egypt and Turkey. For Greece, a successful pipeline would help them carve out a long-sought energy role in the area.
     Over the last three years, Athens has made a concerted effort to lay claim to the Eastern Mediterranean’s recent energy rush, both as a potential transport hub for Israeli and Cypriot gas reserves and as a producer itself. The latter role, which has included studies suggesting offshore reserves near Crete, has failed to catch fire beyond political rhetoric. Meanwhile, after this week, it appears the country’s transport aspirations may have some potential.

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