Israel and Cyprus are close to signing a contract to extend a gas pipeline from the Harish and Tanin platforms to Cyprus.

The summaries are in their final stages, according to Yedioth Ahronoth. Once this step is completed, Cyprus will be the third country to which Israel exports gas, after Egypt and Jordan, and the first country in Europe.

From Cyprus, Israeli gas will be able to reach the whole of Europe, and therefore, behind the scenes, talks are taking place between Energean and the Cypriot government, with the support of Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen and Cypriot Energy Minister George Papinstasiou.

The Harish and Tanin reservoirs are the closest to Cyprus, with a length of only about 200 kilometers, and therefore they were chosen for the purpose of the project. The export contract, which will be signed for a period of 10 years, is scheduled to be in the range of about 7 billion cubic meters. If this step is completed, it will be possible to transport Israeli gas from Cyprus also for Greece and Eur
ope as a whole.

It is worth noting that the owners of Energean, the company that controls the Karish reservoir, are Greek, so they have deep knowledge of the Greek and Cypriot markets.

Aside from the expected large revenues from increased exports, estimated at around $1.5 billion, this is a move of political significance.

Since the Russian-Ukrainian war, European countries have been looking to diversify their energy sources, and Israeli gas could be a tool that serves Israel’s political goals.

Source: Maan News Agency