Good news for gas partnerships. After it was revealed last month that senior officials in the Ministry of Energy are holding out with Egyptian officials to build a new infrastructure for transporting natural gas to Egypt, today the Ministry of Energy announces that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to increase gas exports to Egypt. It should be noted that the notice does not specify the amount of natural gas included in the memorandum of understanding signed. Today, Egypt purchases natural gas from both the Tamar reservoir and their whales for a total amount of about 4.5 BCM per year.
Just this week, Yossi Abu, CEO of Delek Drilling, spoke at the International Energy Conference, saying that Egypt would buy as much natural gas as it could from Israel.
The Ministry of Energy now announced that “At the EMGF meeting in Cairo today, the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Engineer Tarek al-Mula, and the Minister of Energy of Israel, Karin Elharar, signed a joint memorandum of understanding for further natural gas export options. “This agreement comes against the background of fruitful and positive cooperation between the two countries on energy issues in recent years, since the establishment of the Middle East Gas Forum and throughout the activities of the Forum.” Along with Elharar, other senior officials from the Ministry of Energy were also present at the meeting.
It will be recalled that the Adiri 2 Committee, which operated until a few months ago, and whose purpose was to update the country’s energy policy, initially included a recommendation to increase the volume of natural gas exports from the reservoirs in Israel. This position has been sharply criticized by environmental organizations, who have argued that this move indicates a preference that the state is signaling for increasing its revenues, rather than focusing on and promoting renewable energy solutions.
In light of the minister’s statements since taking office regarding the importance of producing energy from “green” sources, and perhaps in an attempt to deal with the same criticism, the ministry now announced in its memorandum of understanding that “natural gas is a transit fuel, paving the way for renewable energy and other clean energy sources.” “Action between the countries plays a significant role in reducing carbon emissions throughout the region, through the adoption of technological developments in the gas economy.”
The statement from the Ministry of Energy also included the statements of Elharar and the Egyptian minister. “We are proud of the fruitful cooperation that brings benefits from natural gas to the two countries. For clean energy and in light of the global desire to reach zero emissions, “said Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Engineer Tarek El Mula.
Whereas Minister Elharar stated that “we see Egypt as an important partner in ensuring regional energy stability and jointly tackling the climate crisis. “I thank my friend Tarek al-Mula for leading and hosting this important forum and for his willingness to continue to deepen relations between the countries in the field of energy.”
Elharar is thus ending a busy “international” week, when only at the beginning of the week did she sign an “electricity for water” agreement with senior Jordanian government officials. Under this agreement, it will be recalled, Israel undertook to sell Jordan another 200 million cubic meters of water per year (in excess of the amount that Israel already sells to Jordan), and in return the state will purchase 600 megawatts of electricity generated from renewable energy in Jordan.