Cyprus, Israel, Greece Mull Energy Cooperation
Cyprus, Greece, and Israel agreed to strengthen regional energy cooperation following the Ninth Trilateral Summit on the 4th of Sep in Nicosia focusing on exports to Europe, especially natural gas, and renewables.
“We agreed that the energy sector, and in particular, natural gas, electricity and renewable energy, is a solid foundation for cooperation in the region,” said a joint statement after the meeting between Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The trio’s eight-year regional cooperation is based on oil wealth in the eastern Mediterranean and supply security for Europe.
Israel is already tapping into offshore gas supplies, and Cyprus has vast undiscovered energy possibilities. Both nations are looking for methods to work together to export natural gas to the European continent.
According to the joint statement, the leaders stated they wished to pursue “energy synergies” such as an electricity interconnector and a prospective natural gas pipeline between the three nations.
“We reaffirmed the common interest to advance prospects for a reliable energy corridor from the Eastern Mediterranean basin to Europe,” the statement added.
Netanyahu said Israel and Cyprus were working on exporting his country’s gas reserves to Europe via the island. Nicosia is considering building a pipeline to transfer offshore natural gas from Israel to Cyprus, where it would fuel electricity generators or be liquefied for export by ship.
“We are looking at the possibility of cooperating on this, and those decisions will be made, I think, in the next three to six months, probably closer to three months,” Netanyahu said.
Notably, Cyprus, Greece, and Israel are also involved in the construction of the EuroAsia Interconnector, the world’s longest and deepest 2,000-megawatt underwater power line connecting the three nations’ grids with mainland Europe.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the energy issue is of “common interest”.
“So, we have a great interest in seeing how the Israeli and Cypriot gas will be exported to the EU and to respect solutions that have the blessing of the two governments, but they will also be tested by the markets,” Mitsotakis elaborated.
