Israel’s relevant energy minister on Thursday revisited the prospect of laying an undersea natural gas pipeline to connect the Mideast country’s offshore fields with Europe, speaking in Athens on the sidelines of the 6th meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation (P-TEC).
Israeli Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen was quoted in an article by the Jerusalem Post as stressing that “…There has been very significant progress on the possibility of building a gas pipeline,” in statements after a meeting with the energy ministers from Greece, Cyprus, and the United States.
FILE PHOTO: London-based Energean’s drill ship begins drilling at the Karish natural gas field offshore Israel in the east Mediterranean May 9, 2022. Picture taken May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Ari Rabinovitch
“This is an idea that was discussed in the past, and now it’s back in play. The Americans are now willing to take on a major role,” the JP article quoted Cohen as saying.
The prospect of building and operating such a pipeline – separate from a project to lay a power cable – connecting Israel’s offshore fields via Cyprus and then onto mainland Greece has repeatedly been discussed over the recent years, although high costs and engineering challenges have so far kept the idea on the drawing board.
