Israel In Favor of Gas Pipeline to EU Via Greece & Italy

According to Euractiv, Israel has proposed that EU countries invest in a multi-billion euro pipeline to carry its natural gas from its Mediterranean coast, to Greece and Italy. The report claims that the supply from Israel would reduce Europe’s current dependence on natural gas from Russia.

The Israeli press reported that the proposal for the “massive” project was introduced by Israel’s Energy Minister Silvan Shalom to energy ministers from Euro-Mediterranean countries who met in Rome last week.

The project would require a multi-billion euro investment from Europe to build a pipeline from Israel’s Mediterranean coast to Cyprus, from where the gas would be carried on to Greece and Italy.

Reports say Cyprus, Greece and Italy were all supportive of the idea, and that Israel would make a formal presentation of the project to European representatives in Brussels in three weeks’ time.

Israel began pumping natural gas in March 2013 from the offshore Tamar deposit — discovered in 2009 and located some 90 kilometers west of Haifa — which holds an estimated 8.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Source: Euractiv