Cyprus Mail: The case for an Eastern Mediterranean energy corridor

RECENT developments in our region have placed emphasis on the energy sector, and rightly so because several states in the Eastern Mediterranean, including Israel and Cyprus are currently developing their offshore hydrocarbon resources.

The recoverable energy resources of our region, the Levant Basin and the Nile Delta Basin Province are so large that the prospects of important economic changes are really promising. Indeed, the recent discoveries of natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean are already altering the geopolitical map of the region, and its importance. Existing pipelines from Russia, South Africa and Norway, together with the proposed pipeline projects from the Caspian Sea Basin through Turkey, constitute the main natural gas corridors to Europe.

All of these transit routes, however, are sourced from, and/or controlled by non-EU member states, some of which are not natural allies of the EU. A new East-West additional energy corridor could establish a route by which the EU would be able to diversify its natural gas supply, without being dependent on non-EU sources, and transit routes. We, therefore, propose that the concept of an Eastern Mediterranean energy corridor (EMEC) should be given serious consideration, as it could be of considerable strategic and economic importance, not only for our region, but to the EU as a whole. MORE