Energy Minister: Israel Is Considering New Pipelines to Greece, Turkey
Israel's Energy Minister, Yuval Steinitz, has told a Greek newspaper that Israel is considering two new pipelines to deliver gas to Greece and Turkey.
Speaking to Kathimerini daily newspaper on February 7, Steinitz said that, given the potential reserves of gas in Egypt, which could be as much as 3,000 bn m3, Israel may have a lot of gas to export.
"It is probable that some of this gas will be exported to Egypt and, if relations with Turkey are normalised, part of the gas can go to Turkey. There is a third option, and this be discussed in detail shortly, the construction of a pipeline, which will unite Israel and Cyprus with Greece."
Steinitz emphasised that the construction of a pipeline to Greece would be contingent on the discovery of "important reserves" in Israel and Egypt. New cost estimates put the price at a more reasonable rate than previous estimates, he said.
“At first we estimated that this [pipeline] would cost $15 bn, which is prohibitive. New estimates reduce this figure to around $7 bn,” he said.
Israel and Turkey have previously engaged in discussions about the construction of a 550-km pipeline that would run along the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea and end at the Turkish port of Mersin. Discussions, however, have stalled over a long-standing dispute over the "Freedom Flotilla", a flotilla of vessels containing humanitarian activists that attempted to approach the Gaza Strip. The vessels were blocked by Israeli forces and nine activists, all Turkish, were killed during the incident.
In December, Turkey said that it was seeking an apology for the deaths of the activists and wanted Israel to compensate the families of the victims.
In his interview with Kathimerini, Steinitz said that construction of a pipeline to Turkey could happen if relations between the two countries normalise.
"If matters improve with Turkey, with whom we formerly had a very close relationship, and our differences can bridged, gas can be sold to Turkey and to Greece via Turkey."
Erica Mills