European Commission President Ursula von der Lane Tonight (Monday) she will visit Israel, where she is expected to promote the issue of natural gas purchases from existing reservoirs in Israel’s economic waters in favor of the European Union. As part of Russia’s natural gas withdrawal efforts due to the war in Ukraine, the European Commission is currently promoting a tripartite deal between the EU and Israel and Egypt, to which part of the Israeli gas is being transferred, in which it is being liquefied for export to European tanks (LNG). Von Der Lane will meet with President Herzog, Prime Minister Bennett, Foreign Minister Lapid and also with Energy Minister Karin Elharar, the minister who began advancing the issue in March at the Paris Energy Conference.
A draft of the deal is already being presented to EU companies in recent days, according to reports in Brussels, and it is set to be signed for nine years. According to Israeli sources, the issues at stake are the volume of exports, since in Israel there is great sensitivity due to pressures from various factors, to ensure the regular supply and energy security of the country for the next 30 years. The Europeans, for their part, want as much as possible, and are willing to help promote the means of transporting gas from the reservoirs all the way to Europe. And here is the second issue that has not yet been closed, the various options for transferring gas when pipelines from the reservoirs at sea to Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus or new drainage facilities on a ship or off the coast of Israel are at stake. The intention of the agreement is to regulate the basis for these issues with some flexibility, as well as to provide the infrastructure for signing procurement agreements between the companies that produce gas in Israel and the European companies.
Elharar: The agreement is expected to be signed soon
After the visit to Israel, von Dar-Lane will continue to visit Egypt, during which she will meet in Cairo with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The Union Embassy in Israel stated that the purpose of the visit is to “promote the ties between the European Union and Israel, especially cooperation in the field of energy.” In recent months, the flow of natural gas from the Israeli reservoirs to Egypt has increased, and the tripartite agreement is expected to determine volumes of exports in the coming years. In the past, the commission has announced that the agreement will be signed “until the summer.” Energy Minister Karin Elharar told Globes that contacts are progressing and that the agreement is expected to be signed soon.
The EU has some natural gas from any non-Russian source, and is expected to sign huge deals with Qatar, Algeria as well as significantly increase natural gas imports from the US. Germany, the EU’s largest customer of natural gas, is expected to set up floating rigs for gasification ( Conversion from compressed gas to gas for use in the North Sea, which will help it significantly reduce its continued dependence on Russian gas, which is still flowing through pipelines and bringing billions of euros into Russia every month despite the war in Ukraine. .
Last week, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck visited Israel, leading the process of changing Germany’s energy mix. According to German media reports, Dust has repeatedly stated that he does not support the construction of a new pipeline to supply gas from Israeli reservoirs through Greece or Turkey, arguing that Europe is moving towards energy independence as a result of using renewable energies. The European ambition is to use natural gas as a transition technology in the next decade and a half.
However, both the European Union and the German government have said in the past that they are interested in purchasing Israeli liquefied natural gas that comes through existing pipelines, which is diverting it to two hotspots in Egypt. According to estimates by the Israeli Ministry of Energy, presented in the Knesset in recent months, Israel exported about 4 BCM to Egypt and Jordan (through which natural gas passes to Egypt), and it may increase exports to 6-8 BCM to the maximum, given production in rigs and Egyptian infrastructure. And the Israeli for transmission. For comparison, so far European imports from Russia have stood at 140 BCM per year. All of Israel’s existing gas reserves have reserves of about 850 BCM. And it is estimated that there is another similar amount in undeveloped databases.
In an interview published in Globes, Gina Cohen, an expert on gas in the Mediterranean, edited that Israel can supply Europe alone in addition to supplies to Egypt and Jordan between 10 BCM and 25 BCM each year, depending on the expansion of drilling and development, and transportation options to Europe. It estimates that gas prices will remain high for at least the next two to three years, until the solutions we are currently working on are implemented, and this is exactly the period of time in which Israel must act quickly.