Israel, Eni Talk Regional Gas Hub Plans

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Jerusalem with the CEO of Italy's state energy company Eni, Claudio Descalzi to discuss ways to cooperate in the natural gas space and future development of the gas fields in Israel's economic waters.

Netanyahu and Descalzi agreed that in light of the growing demand for natural gas in the region, and in order to continue to promote the common interests of the countries and major energy companies in the region, further possibilities for cooperation need to be explored, including joint development or transfer of natural gas to different consumers, Prime Minister’s office said in a statement Thursday.

The two parties also discussed EniI’s new discovery in Egypt's Zohr prospect.

Eni's CEO presented the importance of synergies in joint development of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean through future allocation of resources, as well as through export and transport infrastructure of Israel's gas.

Thursday’s visit is the follow up of previous meetings that Descalzi had held on this subject with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, in October in Cairo, and with the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, in September in Nicosia.