“This is a historic day for the EU’s energy engagement & energy security, signing the MoU with Egypt & Israel, two reliable, strategic partners,” EU commissioner Kadri Simson tweeted.
By World Israel News Staff
Israel inked a trilateral natural gas trade agreement with Egypt and the European Union Wednesday, aimed at undermining Russia’s control of the EU’s energy supply.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed in Cairo, will allow Israel to export natural gas to Europe via Egyptian ports.
The arrangement, relying on existing infrastructure, enables Israel to rapidly increase the amount of natural gas exported to Europe.
Israel will now be able to pump raw natural gas to processing facilities in Egypt via the pipeline system originally built to bring Egyptian natural gas to Israel.
Once liquefied and pressurized, the natural gas will be shipped to Europe from Egyptian port cities.
“You will bring from Israel, via pipeline…. to Egypt, it will be liquefied to LNG and then brought to the European Union,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a visit to Israel a day earlier.
European Union Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson touted the deal Wednesday, calling it a “historic day”.
“This is a historic day for the EU’s energy engagement & energy security,” Simson tweeted, “signing the MoU with Egypt & Israel, two reliable, strategic partners. We will be able to count on LNG from Israel & the Mediterranean region via the Egyptian LNG infrastructure.”
The move is part of a broader effort by the European Union to shore up its energy supply, as Moscow uses sales of gasoline and natural gas to pressure foreign governments to soften their sanctions on Russia.
“With this EU-Egypt-Israel agreement we will work on the stable delivery of natural gas to the EU from the East Med region, von der Leyen tweeted after the deal was signed Wednesday.
“This will contribute to our EU energy security. And we are building infrastructure fit for renewables – the energy of the future.”
During her meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday, von der Leyen accused Russia of attempting to “blackmail” EU member states by withholding energy sales.
“With the beginning of this war and the attempt of Russia to blackmail us through energy, by deliberately cutting off the energy supplies, we decided to cut off and to get rid of the dependency on Russian fossil fuels, and to move away from Russia and diversify to trustworthy suppliers.”
“So it is for us very important – and I am very grateful that we are now discussing this fascinating project – that you are willing to increase the deliveries of gas to the European Union via Egypt.”