Sonne-2012
Top-Poster
Gas finds may lead to Israeli alliance with Egypt, Greece
Experts: discovery of huge reserves in Mediterranean could lead to cooperation between Israel, Egypt, Greece and Cyprus.
The discovery of huge reserves of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean will likely give birth to new alliances in the region, possibly even leading regional powers to "bury old differences and develop unprecedented security,
economic and strategic cooperation," according to Amr Emam, writing in The Arab Weekly.
The new regional natural gas players — Egypt, Israel, Greece and Cyprus — are working to develop secure systems to deliver natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe, making the continent less dependent
on gas from Russia, the experts said.
“New finds in the region make cooperation among the new gas producers essential for delivering this gas to important markets, including Europe,” Hossam Farahat, an oil and gas analyst, told The Arab Weekly.
“What makes this cooperation more possible is that most of the fields found in the region are so close to each other.”
The idea that Israel, Cyprus and Turkey would provide gas for Europe has been discussed for some time, and as reported by Arutz Sheva at the time, US Vice President Joe Biden remarked upon it in 2014.
Egypt, however, was a natural gas importer, not an exporter, until recently.
This changed in August 2015, with the discovery of a huge natural gas field covering 100 sq. km off Egypt's coast. The field reportedly has potential reserves of approximately 30 trillion cubic feet of lean gas,
which amount to almost 40% of Egypt's confirmed natural gas reserves. Cairo said that the gas would be used to satisfy local demand, but international energy research centers expect Egypt’s natural gas production to exceed local consumption by 2020.
In addition, economists say Egypt’s need for foreign currency may force it to speed up the export of its natural gas, to a point earlier than 2020, according to Emam, who wrote: "This opens the prospect for creating alliances in
the Mediterranean region, where rising gas powers can cooperate to deliver gas to Europe."
Gas finds may lead to alliance with Egypt, Greece - Middle East - News - Arutz Sheva
Experts: discovery of huge reserves in Mediterranean could lead to cooperation between Israel, Egypt, Greece and Cyprus.
The discovery of huge reserves of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean will likely give birth to new alliances in the region, possibly even leading regional powers to "bury old differences and develop unprecedented security,
economic and strategic cooperation," according to Amr Emam, writing in The Arab Weekly.
The new regional natural gas players — Egypt, Israel, Greece and Cyprus — are working to develop secure systems to deliver natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe, making the continent less dependent
on gas from Russia, the experts said.
“New finds in the region make cooperation among the new gas producers essential for delivering this gas to important markets, including Europe,” Hossam Farahat, an oil and gas analyst, told The Arab Weekly.
“What makes this cooperation more possible is that most of the fields found in the region are so close to each other.”
The idea that Israel, Cyprus and Turkey would provide gas for Europe has been discussed for some time, and as reported by Arutz Sheva at the time, US Vice President Joe Biden remarked upon it in 2014.
Egypt, however, was a natural gas importer, not an exporter, until recently.
This changed in August 2015, with the discovery of a huge natural gas field covering 100 sq. km off Egypt's coast. The field reportedly has potential reserves of approximately 30 trillion cubic feet of lean gas,
which amount to almost 40% of Egypt's confirmed natural gas reserves. Cairo said that the gas would be used to satisfy local demand, but international energy research centers expect Egypt’s natural gas production to exceed local consumption by 2020.
In addition, economists say Egypt’s need for foreign currency may force it to speed up the export of its natural gas, to a point earlier than 2020, according to Emam, who wrote: "This opens the prospect for creating alliances in
the Mediterranean region, where rising gas powers can cooperate to deliver gas to Europe."
Gas finds may lead to alliance with Egypt, Greece - Middle East - News - Arutz Sheva