In an effort to end its dependence on gas supplies from Russia, the European Union has signed a preliminary agreement on gas imports with Israel and Egypt. If the agreement is confirmed, natural gas would be exported from Israel to Egypt, where it would be converted into a liquid form. From there, he would then head to European markets.
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Officials said liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe are likely to increase under the agreement, but it is likely to take several years for supplies to actually expand.
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The memorandum was signed by Israeli Energy Minister Karine Elharrar, Egyptian Oil Minister Tarek El Molla and EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson. “Egypt and Israel are committing to sharing natural gas with Europe today to help address the energy crisis,” Elharrar said.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who also attended the meeting, called it a “major step forward in Europe’s energy supply”. “I see this as the first step towards a Mediterranean-wide agreement, because I see that energy supplies are now shifting to the global south and east,” she added.
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In recent years, Israel has become one of the natural gas exporters due to the discovery of large offshore deposits and has concluded an ambitious agreement with Greece and Cyprus to build a common gas pipeline. The Israeli Ministry of Energy has stated that it will allow such significant Israeli gas exports to Europe for the first time.
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Russia’s state gas company Gazprom, meanwhile, has again reduced the maximum volume of deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to Germany to 67 million cubic meters per day. The measure will take effect from Thursday morning and the company again justified it with delays in repairing the equipment, the DPA agency reported today.
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The situation around Russian gas supplies has become more complicated this year as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine. Gazprom announced in May that it would no longer be able to export gas to the European Union via the Jamal pipeline through Poland. He justified this by Russian sanctions against the company EuRoPol GAZ, which owns the Polish part of the Jamal gas pipeline. He leads from Russia via Belarus and Poland to Germany.
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The Italian energy company Eni announced today that the volume of natural gas transported from Russia to Italy today fell by about 15 percent compared to Tuesday. Gazprom informed its Italian partner about the reduction, but did not give reasons, the Reuters agency wrote.
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