Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz signed an agreement with his counterparts from Cyprus and Greece and the Italian ambassador to supply European Union (EU) countries with natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The project will involve a 1,300km (808 miles) pipeline on the Mediterranean seabed from the eastern Mediterranean to western Greece, where it will be connected to existing pipelines that allow for the natural gas to be delivered to Italy and other EU countries. Initial evaluations suggest that 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas will be pumped through that pipeline every year.

In a joint statement, the signatories said the project would “secure a direct long-term export route from Israel and Cyprus to Greece, Italy and other European markets.” They added that significant deposits had already been discovered in the east Mediterranean, including Israel’s Leviathan field, and this could be just the tip of the iceberg.

Steinitz also told reporters that in addition to the EastMed pipeline, Israel is considering building direct pipelines to Egypt and Turkey.

(via BICOM)

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