EU chief met with with Karin Elharar, Minister for Energy in Israel for energy talks!!!

Israeli Energy Minister Karine Elharrar and other officials have said their country could help meet EU demand if it can deliver gas from its offshore reserves estimated at nearly 1,000 billion cubic meters. Von der Leyen was to meet Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday, with talks expected to focus “in particular on energy cooperation,” a commission statement said.

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Mario Draghi, on his first Middle East trip since taking office last year, will also discuss energy and food security during his two-day trip, Italian media reported.

Both leaders will on Tuesday meet Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shttayeh in the West Bank.

The EU this month formally adopted a ban on most Russian oil imports, its toughest sanctions yet over the war on Ukraine.

Von der Leyen has suggested the bloc end its dependence on Russian hydrocarbons, including gas, by 2027.

Draghi and other EU leaders have warned European customers may need protection as energy costs continue to rise.

For now, getting Israeli gas to Europe is fraught with challenges and would require major and long-term infrastructure investments.

With no pipeline linking its offshore fields to Europe, one option for now is piping natural to Egypt, where it could be liquified for export by ship to Europe.

Another scenario that has been floated is building a pipeline to Turkey.
Israel’s ties with Ankara have thawed after more than a decade of diplomatic rupture and experts have said Turkey’s desire for joint energy projects has partly triggered its outreach to Israel.

That pipeline project would take $1.5 billion and two to three years to complete, according to Israel’s former energy minister Yuval Steizitz, now an opposition lawmaker.

Option three is known as the EastMed project, a proposal for a seafloor pipeline linking Israel with Cyprus and Greece.

Experts have however raised concerns about the cost and viability of the project, while Israel has said it would like to see Italy sign on.

Further complicating Israel’s offshore gas production is a long-running maritime border dispute with Lebanon.

The neighbors technically remain at war but have agreed to US-mediated talks aimed at delineating the border to allow both countries to boost exploration.

Talks broke down last year but Israel has urged Lebanon to re-engag

Tensions flared this month following a Lebanese claim that Israeli production was taking place in contested waters.

Israel countered that the area was located clearly south of the disputed zone.

The US envoy mediating the maritime border talks, Amos Hochstein, was due in Lebanon on Monday.

The European Commission has proposed a deal to EU member states with Egypt and Israel to boost imports of natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean, according to a draft document seen by Reuters dated June 7.

The draft memorandum of understanding, which is still subject to changes and needs approval from the governments involved, is part of European Union efforts to reduce fossil fuel imports from Russia following the war in Ukraine.

#eudebates the unique initiative aiming to promote debate, dialogue, knowledge, participation and communication among citizens. #Israel #Egypt #EastMED #Energy #Gas #LNG

“The natural gas to be shipped to the European Union will originate either from the Arab Republic of Egypt, the State of Israel, or any other source in the East Mediterranean region, including EU Member States in the region,” the nine page document said.

The EU has said publicly it intends to conclude a trilateral agreement with Egypt and Israel before the summer, but the details in the June 7 draft are not public.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is due to visit Cairo next week.

The European Commission declined to comment on the draft agreement, or whether von der Leyen’s trip could be when the memorandum of understanding is signed.

The draft deal establishes the principles for enhanced cooperation between the three partners but does not say how much gas the EU would import nor set any timelines for deliveries.

The document said shipments would include the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure in Egypt, noting the North African country’s plan to become a regional hub for natural gas.

The memorandum of understanding would run for nine years from its signature, the document says, although that part is still in brackets, a sign that there is a higher chance it could be changed than other paragraphs.

EU FUNDING
Egypt already exports relatively small amounts of gas to the EU, and both countries are expecting to ramp up production and exports in the coming years.

The Egyptian government was not immediately available for comment on the draft agreement.