Israel’s government ratified July 19 the East-Med pipeline agreement, which was signed last January with the governments of Cyprus and Greece. The three countries have agreed to advance a project of a pipeline that would transport natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe.
According to the project’s outline, the 1,900-kilometer (1,180-mile) undersea pipeline would be able to transfer up to 12 billion cubic meters a year from offshore gas reserves between Israel and Cyprus to Greece, and then onto other countries in southeast Europe. Italy is expected to be the first entry point to the continent. The project aims at providing around 10% of the European Union’s natural gas needs, thus diminishing the continent’s energetic dependence on Russia.