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JERUSALEM (AP) — European leaders visiting Israel on Tuesday expressed hope that pure fuel provides from the jap Mediterranean may assist cut back dependence on Russia because the Ukraine conflict drags on.
Israel has emerged as a fuel exporter lately following main offshore discoveries and has signed an formidable settlement with Greece and Cyprus to construct a shared pipeline. New provides may assist Europe ramp up sanctions on Moscow.
“On the power entrance, we’ll work collectively in utilizing fuel sources of the jap Mediterranean and to develop renewable power,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi mentioned at a joint press convention together with his Israeli counterpart, Naftali Bennett.
“We need to cut back our dependence on Russian fuel and speed up power transition towards the local weather targets we’ve given ourselves,” he mentioned.
Bennett mentioned Israel was working to make pure fuel obtainable for Europe. His workplace mentioned the 2 leaders additionally mentioned transport pure fuel to Europe by way of Egypt.
European Fee chief Ursula von der Leyen, who can also be in Israel this week, affirmed Europe’s dedication to wean itself off Russian fuel, saying Israel may assist.
“We at the moment are exploring methods to step up power cooperation with Israel,” von der Leyen mentioned.
In January, the European Union earmarked 657 million euros ($736 million) for the development of a 2,000-megawatt undersea electrical energy cable that can hyperlink the facility grids of Israel, Cyprus and Greece. Von der Leyen mentioned it might be the deepest and longest such cable ever constructed.
In 2020, Greece, Israel and Cyprus signed a deal to construct an undersea pipeline to hold fuel from new offshore deposits within the southeastern Mediterranean to continental Europe.
The proposed mission, with a tough funds of $6 billion, was anticipated to fulfill about 10% of the European Union’s pure fuel wants. However it’s fraught with political and logistical complexities.
On the time, Israeli officers mentioned the EastMed pipeline would take as much as seven years to construct, touting its benefits as being much less weak to sabotage and never crossing many nationwide borders.
The pipeline’s building hasn’t but begun and the EU continues to be conducting preliminary evaluations and price estimations. In April, a U.S. envoy mentioned it was too costly, not economically viable and can take too lengthy to offer an alternative choice to Russian fuel.
Final yr, the European Union imported roughly 40% of its fuel from Russia. International locations have been struggling to cut back that dependency as a way to sanction Russia over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Israel has two main fuel fields off its coast with an estimated 690 billion cubic meters of pure fuel mixed and continues to probe for extra.
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