Robert Besser
19 Jun 2022, 01:37 GMT+10
CAIRO, Egypt: Egypt, Israel and the European Union (EU) have signed an agreement to increase liquified natural gas sales to EU countries, and reduce their dependence on Russian supplies after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
According to European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, the deal will see Israel send more gas via Egypt, which has facilities to liquify it for export by sea.
During a joint news conference alongside the Egyptian and Israel energy ministers, von der Leyen said, "What a special moment. I very warmly welcome the signing of this historic agreement."
The agreement was part of Europe's efforts to reduce its reliance on Russia for energy sources and to import hydrocarbons from "other trustworthy suppliers," she added, noting Israel and Egypt have emerged as gas exporters in recent years after major offshore discoveries.
The agreement stipulates that the EU will help Egypt and Israel increase their gas production and exploration in their territorial waters.
In a joint news conference with Egypt President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, von der Leyen said, "It is known that the Russian war against Ukraine has exposed our European dependency on Russian fossil fuels, and we want to get rid of this dependency."
In 2021, Russia delivered some 40 percent of the EU's gas supplies, which led to difficulty in imposing sanctions on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.
"This is a statement to those who see in our region only negative forces, such as division and conflict," said Israeli Energy Minister Karin Elharrar.
The deal is "an important milestone" for cooperation between Egypt, Israel and the EU," Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek el-Molla added.
Get a daily dose of Europe Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Europe Sun.
More InformationDUBAI, UAE: The Arab states have built significant amounts of solar and wind power installations, and are in line to ...
LONDON, England: A second referendum on Scottish independence is set to be held in October 2023. The Scottish government, led ...
LISBON, Portugal: Tuvalu Foreign Minister Simon Kofe walked out of the opening cermonies of this week's United Nations Ocean Conference ...
SULAWESI, Indonesia: Using just a rope, an Indonesian man, supported by fellow villagers on the island of Sulawesi, captured a ...
WATFORD, UK: Watford F.C. has cancelled a friendly match against the Qatar national team due to the Gulf country's human ...
ISTANBUL, Turkey: Turkish police detained dozens of people after local authorities banned Istanbul's annual Pride parade from going ahead this ...
TAIPEI, Taiwan: The world's fourth largest chip designer by revenue, Taiwan's MediaTek, has told Reuters that it plans to create ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks rebounded on Friday, a day after major across-the-board sell-offs."Consensus estimates for 2022 and ...
GENEVA, Switzerland: Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis has said, as part of its previously announced restructuring program, that it could cut ...
SHANGHAI, China: Walt Disney Company reopened Shanghai Disneyland on 30th June, one month after the city lifted a two month ...
SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stocks in Asia skidded lower Friday with all the major indices recording solid losses."Capitulation is the ...
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Given the country's ongoing economic crisis and acute fuel shortage, the Pakistan government is considering purchasing oil ...