“The Ministry of Environmental Protection’s policy, which prevents the increase in the volume of activity in Eilat, could severely damage the activity of the EPA port and a security-energy risk during emergencies,” warn the EPA, which intends to file a petition to the Ministry of Administrative Affairs soon.
The company claims that the policy of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, which prohibits the addition of dozens of tankers, will effectively prevent the implementation of the agreement with Med-Red from the UAE to transport oil by tanker to Eilat – and from there by land to Ashkelon, which will serve as an export gate to Europe and local consumption.
Strategic importance
EPA (Europe-Asia Pipeline), which is a government company, transports oil from the port it operates in Eilat to the port of Ashkelon. In recent years, an average of 16 tankers have arrived at the company’s port each year.
“The EPA port in Eilat is of strategic and security and geopolitical importance to the State of Israel,” says EPA Chairman Erez Halfon. It enables energy continuity of receiving oil to Israel routinely, and even more so in times of emergency, when other ports are closing. “
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Halfon warns: “Any damage to the EPA’s activity will lead to an injury to the State of Israel’s energy security.” Security-security strategy for the energy economy and its continuous functioning.
“The agreement (with Med-Red) strengthens Israel’s strategic position as a regional geopolitical player, with an intercontinental bridge, and this is a historic breakthrough in breaking the Arab boycott in the oil field.” Levy adds: “Breaking the boycott is one of the important meanings of the agreement, and its importance should not be underestimated.”
The fruit of peace
About three months ago, the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced the adoption of a “zero risk of pollution in the Gulf of Eilat” policy, following which it does not intend to approve EPA’s request to increase the volume of oil tankers in the Gulf of Eilat, according to the agreement with Med-Rad. justification.
The ban could prevent the implementation of the agreement between EPA and Med-Rad from the United Arab Emirates, which includes transporting oil by tanker to Eilat.
The agreement, which is estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, was signed in October 2020, following the signing of the historic Avraham agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. According to the agreement, the oil will be transported from Eilat through the pipeline operated by the company to Ashkelon – and from there it will continue to be consumed locally in Israel or by tankers in European countries. In practice, the agreement turns Israel into a land bridge between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean to transport oil, and this is also a strategic event.
Environmental organizations that fought for the agreement claimed that it would increase the risk of environmental pollution, and petitioned the High Court, inter alia, claiming that it was done without authority, since it was necessary to obtain government approval, which did not happen. . The petition was continued on the recommendation of the High Court, and both parties expressed satisfaction.
But environmental organizations claimed that the Ministry of Environmental Protection had already made it clear that it would not increase the risk to the Gulf of Eilat and informed the EPA of a policy of “zero additional risk to the Gulf of Eilat”. Dozens of oil tankers that will arrive in Eilat, as a policy of “zero additional risk”.
But contrary to the ministry’s announcement, Finance Minister Hamad Amar said this week in the Knesset, in response to a question submitted by MK Musi Raz: “I do not recognize a policy of adding zero risk to the Gulf of Eilat. The position of the Ministry of Environmental Protection is not the position of the government. “
MK Raz said in response: “It is not possible that the left hand does not speak with the right hand. The Red-Med agreement will be stopped for the health and environment of us all. “
Memories of her past
However, the EPA presented a risk survey conducted by the Zemet company, and according to it, with the approval of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. A crude oil leak in the Evrona Reserve, between December 3 and 4, 2014, which caused pollution and heavy ecological damage to the reserve in the Arava.
The EPA claimed that the malfunction occurred in the connection of the pipeline, which was moved at the state’s request, due to the construction of Ramon Airport. A “marine blocker” has been trained, which is placed around each tanker anchored at the EPA port in Eilat.
In the event of a leak, the blocker, which will be at the depth of the water, inhibits the spread of oil, the point event can be dealt with quickly and without causing environmental ecological damage. The EPA claims that the agreement signed with the company from the United Arab Emirates has, in addition to the economic aspects, also strategic and security importance for the State of Israel.
Under the agreement, about 70-60 oil tankers are expected to arrive in Eilat each year, and their rate will be very low compared to the current and planned traffic of cargo ships and tankers in the Gulf of Eilat, most of which will focus on the port of Aqaba in Jordan. In addition to the port of Katsa, the port of Eilat anchors about 140 cargo ships a year. .
Recently, a new oil deal was reported between Iraq and Jordan, in which 1,665 km of pipelines will carry oil from the fortress to the port of Aqaba, where it will be loaded on tankers that will take it to Europe. 500 oil tankers a year on the Jordanian side of the Gulf of Eilat, a number seven times higher than the 60-70 tankers that will visit the port of Eilat as part of the agreement with Med-Rad.
Fuel will become more expensive
“Our agreement with Med-Rad will become a drop in the ocean,” the company further noted, presenting the benefits inherent in the agreement in a detailed document entitled “The benefits inherent in the EPA-Med-Rad agreement.” In the future, it will also lead to the disappearance of the ‘Israeli premium’, which is rolled onto the shoulders of consumers and increases the price of fuel for Israelis.
The Arab boycott in the field of oil deters even foreign parties from shipping ships to Israel, because ships calling at Israeli ports are not allowed to call at many ports in the Arab world. The open agreement with the company from the UAE indicates a fundamental change of direction in this regard, “it was noted in the opening of the document, which reached Maariv and which was sent to senior government officials.
It goes on to say that due to the Arab boycott and the conflict that existed for many years between the State of Israel and some Arab countries, from the beginning of the 1980s the full extent of the use of EPA facilities was avoided. “Really.”
The document mentions that in 1979, due to political events, the main source of crude oil, which was transported and dismantled in Eilat, was discontinued. “The Med-Red agreement, signed for a long period of time and with the promise of significant activity, is in itself an important political statement on the establishment of a new ‘alliance’,” the authors of the detailed document noted.
“Allowing the Israeli intercontinental bridge to operate on a more significant scale than in recent years, but much smaller than its maximum capacity and past performance, positions Israel as a regional player with an intercontinental bridge,” it added. The document stated in detail the security benefits that the agreement creates, including improving the capability of the port of Eilat as a secondary oil port is important for security reasons.
“Since the rest of the ports in Israel are located on the shores of the Mediterranean, and are therefore threatened with rocket weapons in the near term and with precise threats, it is not possible to save the Eilat port ‘reserve’ only and use it only in emergencies. .
The other security aspects of the agreement read: “Despite the global trend towards alternative energy use over oil use, the need for oil as an energy source will continue to accompany Israel (worldwide) for at least the next decades. Therefore, the importance of ensuring Israel’s energy security cannot be diminished. “In the coming decades as well, in view of the fact that there are industries in which the transition to alternative energy will be more complex and longer, such as aviation and sea and land transport.”
The document also emphasizes the importance of the energy security implications of the agreement: “Energy security for the State of Israel as well as securing a regular supply of oil to the refineries, according to their needs, is a vital security-strategic need.”
Itzik Levy, CEO of EPA (Photo: EPA Spokeswoman)Increasing environmental risk
The EPA warns that if the port’s activity is restricted on a regular basis and it is only possible to import through it in an emergency, then the risk of pollution will increase due to lack of skill and equipment that is not used frequently. ” “Thus, the economy enjoys the de facto existence of an additional emergency stock, which is in fact available free of charge to the Israeli economy,” the document further stated.
“The refineries have a built-in advantage in purchasing oil imported to Israel by Med-Red, because selling oil to them saves the international customer transportation costs from Israel. This reduces the cost of purchasing oil in Israel.” The document also claims that the cancellation of the agreement, once signed, will cause enormous damage to relations with the United Arab Emirates and to Israel’s image of credibility in the world. “The damage to Israel’s good name as a reliable partner and as a stable and friendly country to foreign investors, and to the EPA in particular, will be enormous.”
The EPA clarified that as part of the preparations for the implementation of the agreement, the company has already made significant investments, including equipping, increasing protection measures, conducting a risk survey, manpower and training. “But in much larger circles, he has managed for decades to prevent material exceptional events. “The EPA port will carry out the expected activity at a level of safety that does not fall short of the port of Aqaba.”
In another document recently issued by the Emergency and Defense Department of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, as part of the lessons learned following Operation Wall Guard, there is a recommendation to establish a distillery port at the EPA pier in Eilat, in order to reduce dependence on the Ashkelon port.
The recommendation to establish a distillery port in Eilat should make it possible in an emergency to unload refined fuels imported to Israel into aircraft and vehicles, not only in Mediterranean ports, but also in the Red Sea, thus making Eilat an additional gateway for fuel to the country. In a letter sent by the director general of the Ministry of Finance, Ram Belnikov, to the director general of the Prime Minister’s Office, Yair Pines, in October, he clarifies that the agreement between EPA and Red-Med does not deviate from the core of the company’s regular activities since its inception.
“The position of the Ministry of Finance must properly address environmental concerns and ensure with the tools of reasonable environmental regulation that we will indeed reduce the necessary measures, and the company is committed to this. The risks taken by the company, which indicates a minimal risk of harm to the environment, “Belnikov concludes his letter on the agreement, which was signed for a period of ten years, with the possibility of extension for another ten years.