EU signs gas deal with Israel, Egypt in bid to ditch Russia

The tripartite settlement will enable ‘important’ exports of Israeli gasoline to Europe for the primary time.

EU Fee President Ursula von der Leyen signed a memorandum of understanding with Egypt and Israel in what has been described as a 'historic settlement' [Amr Nabil/AP]

The European Union, Israel and Egypt have signed a tripartite pure gasoline export deal because the bloc seeks to diversify away from Russian power.

The deal, finalised on Wednesday on the East Mediterranean regional power convention in Cairo, will enable “important” exports of Israeli gasoline to Europe for the primary time, the Israeli power ministry mentioned.

“What a particular second,” European Fee chief Ursula von der Leyen mentioned in a joint information convention alongside the Egyptian and Israeli power ministers. “I very warmly welcome the signing of this historic settlement.”

Von der Leyen mentioned on Twitter that the settlement would contribute to Europe’s power safety.

Final 12 months, the EU imported roughly 40 % of its gasoline from Russia. International locations have been struggling to cut back that dependency with the intention to sanction Russia over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

With this 🇪🇺🇪🇬🇮🇱 settlement we are going to work on the steady supply of pure gasoline to the EU from the East Med area.

It will contribute to our 🇪🇺 power safety.

And we're constructing infrastructure match for renewables – the power of the longer term. pic.twitter.com/GYFPXwFpsp

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) June 15, 2022

The signing of the memorandum of understanding in a five-star Cairo lodge comes a day after von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi launched into power talks with Israeli international minister Yair Lapid.

“It's an excellent step bringing our power cooperation to the subsequent stage,” von der Leyen mentioned on Tuesday whereas visiting Israel.

The EU Fee chief careworn that the memorandum of understanding would improve the bloc’s “independence,” glossing over its newly-found reliance on Cairo and Tel Aviv, that are each accused of grave human rights violations and warfare crimes.

Von der Leyen additionally praised a set of controversial agreements brokered by former US President Donald Trump normalising ties between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain.

Israeli gasoline can be introduced by way of a pipeline to Egypt’s LNG terminal on the Mediterranean, the place some can be liquefied and transported on tankers to European shores.

In January, the EU earmarked 657 million euros ($736m) for the development of a 2,000-megawatt undersea electrical energy cable that may hyperlink the facility grids of Israel, Cyprus and Greece. Von der Leyen mentioned it will be the deepest and longest such cable ever constructed.

In 2020, Greece, Israel and Cyprus signed a deal to construct an undersea pipeline to hold gasoline from new offshore deposits within the southeastern Mediterranean to continental Europe.

The proposed mission, with a tough finances of $6bn, was anticipated to fulfill about 10 % of the EU’s pure gasoline wants. However it's fraught with political and logistical complexities.

On the time, Israeli officers mentioned the EastMed pipeline would take as much as seven years to construct.

The pipeline’s building has not but begun and the EU continues to be conducting preliminary evaluations and price estimations. In April, a US envoy mentioned it was too costly, not economically viable and can take too lengthy to offer an alternative choice to Russian gasoline.

Israel has emerged as a gasoline exporter lately following main offshore discoveries. It has two main gasoline fields off its coast with an estimated 690 billion cubic metres of pure gasoline mixed and continues to probe for extra, together with those who lie beneath the disputed maritime border with Lebanon.

Tel Aviv says the Karish area is a part of its UN-recognised unique financial zone. Lebanon insists it's in a disputed space.