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Netanyahu set to sign major landmark pipeline deal with Greece and Cyprus

The pipeline is expected to satisfy about 10 percent of the European Union’s natural gas needs, decreasing energy dependence on Russia.

By World Israel News Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz traveled to Athens on Thursday to sign a major three-way gas pipeline agreement with the leaders of Cyprus and Greece.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be signing the agreement at the summit, while Italy is expected to sign the agreement in the near future.

“We have established an alliance in the Middle East, an alliance that is of enormous importance to the energy future of Israel, to it becoming an energy power, and for stability in the region,” Netanyahu said before boarding his plane.

Under the agreement, the EastMed pipeline will run across the Mediterranean from Israel’s Levantine Basin offshore gas reserves to the Greek island of Crete and the Greek mainland, and then to Italy. The pipeline is expected to satisfy about 10 percent of the European Union’s natural gas needs, decreasing energy dependence on Russia.

“It is expected to yield 22 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, paving the way for multibillion-dollar gas-export deals with Egypt and Jordan,” reports JNS.

The EU has contributed to the cost of technical studies for the project.

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Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Israel began pumping its first supply of natural gas to Jordan via the Texas-based Noble Energy company.

According to Jordan’s National Electric Power Company (NEPCO), the experimental pumping is to continue for three months in order to test infrastructure prior to the flow of commercial supply.

The $10 billion dollar deal has faced fierce opposition by many Jordanians.

Earlier this week two electrical transformers in northern Jordan intended for the transport of the gas were torched, Jordan’s Petra national news agency reported.