Israel in talks with Egypt and Turkey
on major gas export deals
Israel’s drive to export its new-found natural gas could help to rebuild strained ties with old regional allies Egypt and Turkey, but could deprive Europe of a precious alternative to Russian gas.
Israel has in recent months already signed energy deals with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, though relations with the Palestinians are at a low ebb, and now needs to expand its export horizons to cash in on its huge energy discoveries.
If all goes well, the latest developments could see first pipelines being laid between Israel and Turkey as soon as 2015, and gas cooperation between Israel and Egypt is also emerging, which would allow export access to Asia’s major markets.
A growing population and soaring demand have left Egypt’s own liquefied natural gas export (LNG) plants in need of new supply, as domestic shortages eat into seaborne exports through the Suez Canal to the world’s most lucrative market in Asia.
This has put Israel’s previous plans to pump its gas reserves into a future export plant in Greek Cyprus on the back burner, dealing a major blow to the indebted Mediterranean island’s ambitions to become a global player in the gas market.
A Greek Cypriot LNG export plant was due to deliver at least 5 million tonnes a year to Europe and Asia, allowing Europe to reduce its growing dependency on Russia, which has become of particular concern since the crisis in Ukraine cast a Cold War chill over East-West relations.
Israel’s new plans throw Greek Cypriot developments into doubt as investors would require more gas than Cyprus has on offer to make returns on multibillion-dollar investments.
“If Israel has really ditched Cyprus as a partner to develop the region’s gas resources, then we (Cyprus) really do have to find quite a lot more gas if we want to become a viable exporter, and that would inevitably throw our plans back by several years,” said one source involved in developing Greek Cyprus’s gas reserves.
