European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers a speech at Ben Gurion University in the Negev, southern Israel, June 14, 2022 (AFP/Menahem KAHANA)
The European Union wants to “strengthen” its energy cooperation with the Jewish state in response to the “blackmail” of Russia, which has stopped its gas supplies to European countries, argued the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Israel on Tuesday.
“The Kremlin used our dependence on Russian fossil fuels to blackmail us… Russia deliberately cut off gas supplies to Poland, Bulgaria and Finland, as well as Dutch and Danish companies in retaliation for our support of Ukraine,” she accused Russian giant Gazprom announced on Tuesday that it would reduce its daily delivery capacity to Germany via the Nord Stream gas pipeline by more than 40 percent.
“The Kremlin’s behavior only reinforces our desire to rid ourselves of our dependence on Russian fossil fuels,” von der Leyen said. “For example, we are currently looking at ways to strengthen our energy cooperation with Israel,” she explained, referring to a project for an undersea electric cable connecting the Jewish state, Cyprus and Greece and a “pipeline” in the eastern Mediterranean.
Israel is working hard to export some of its vast offshore gas resources to Europe, which has been trying to replace Russian fossil fuel purchases since invading Ukraine in late February and sanctions on Moscow.
“Announcements” on energy cooperation “with Israel and other partners in the region” would have to be made “in the coming days”, said a spokeswoman for the European Commission and specified that Mrs von der Leyen would go to Israel to Egypt.
And also a sign of movement in this filing, Israeli Energy Minister Karine Elharrar indicated that on Tuesday she traveled to Egypt to “sign a memorandum of understanding for the export of natural gas from Israel and Egypt to EU countries”.
– From sea to land –
Israel began producing gas after several deposits were discovered off its coast in the Mediterranean Sea in the early 2010s, with reserves estimated at around 1,000 billion BCM (billion cubic meters).
But Israel faces two major problems: the lack of a gas pipeline to connect its Mediterranean oil platforms to markets in southern Europe, and a dispute with neighboring Lebanon over the demarcation of part of its jurisdiction.
Israel has three main options for exporting its gas to Europe: transport it to Egypt via an existing pipeline to liquefy it there and ship it to Europe; construction of a gas pipeline to Turkey; or build a new hydrocarbon route via Cyprus and Greece straight to southern Europe.
But this latest project, called EastMed, is costing almost six billion euros and could take some time to materialize. Israeli officials have also asked Italy to join.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, also visiting Israel, advocated bilateral gas cooperation without lifting the veil on the route Israeli gas might take to reach Italy.
“We are working together to harness the Eastern Mediterranean’s gas resources and develop renewable energy. We want to reduce our dependence on Russian gas,” Mr Draghi said along with Mr Bennett.
– And Lebanon? –
The discovery of vast gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean has fueled border disputes between Lebanon and Israel. In October 2020, the two countries, which were technically at war, had started talks to demarcate their maritime border and remove obstacles to hydrocarbon exploration.
However, these talks have been suspended since May 2021 due to disputes over the disputed Karish area. Tensions resurfaced last week with the arrival of a ship chartered by exploration company Energean Plc, Lebanon, on behalf of the Jewish state, accusing Israel of operating in a disputed area.
But Israel has asserted that the gas field was not in the disputed waters, which is also suggested by an analysis of satellite images conducted by the Israeli daily Haaretz. “I look forward to the day when Lebanon will benefit from the natural gas in its waters. But unfortunately its leaders are more busy fighting internally and externally than extracting gas for their people,” he said of the Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday.
Lebanon on Tuesday delivered a new proposal to delimit sea borders with Israel excluding the Karish Field but expanding the sea area (which belongs to Lebanon) from 860 km2 to about 1,200 km2” to American mediator Amos Hochstein, who was visiting Beirut. a Lebanese official who was briefed on the talks told AFP.