Israel Looking to Supply Gas to Turkey, Greece via Separate Pipelines

Israel is keen on supplying gas to Turkey and Greece via two separate pipelines, country’s energy minister Yuval Steinitz announced Sunday, reported news agency AFP.

The minister stated that if relations with Turkey improve further gas could both be sold to Turkey, and to Greece via Turkey. He further added that if important reserves are discovered in Israel and Egypt, or even in Egypt, this could justify the construction of a long pipeline to Greece.

"At first we estimated that this would cost 15 billion dollars (13 billion euros), which is prohibitive. Now new estimates reduce this to around seven billion (dollars)," AFP quoted Steinitz as saying.

Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel, Greece and Cyprus would form a committee to study plans to build a pipeline between Israel and Cyprus and on to Greece.