Egypt, Israel to spice up gasoline provide to EU amid Ukraine warfare

Egypt, Israel, and the European Union on Wednesday signed a deal to extend liquified pure gasoline gross sales to EU nations, who goal to cut back dependence on provide from Russia because the warfare in Ukraine drags on.

The deal, stamped in a five-star Cairo lodge, will see Israel sending extra gasoline through Egypt, which has services to liquify it for export through sea, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen mentioned.

“What a special moment,” von der Leyen mentioned in a joint information convention alongside Egyptian and Israel power ministers. “I very warmly welcome the signing of this historic agreement.” Last yr, the European Union imported roughly 40% of its gasoline from Russia, and because of that has had issue imposing sanctions on Russia over its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The Israeli gasoline will likely be introduced through a pipeline to Egypt’s LNG terminal on the Mediterranean earlier than being transported on tankers to the European shores.

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Israel has two operational gasoline fields off its Mediterranean coast containing an estimated 690 billion cubic meters of pure gasoline mixed, and a 3rd offshore rig is within the works. It has already signed gasoline export agreements with neighboring Egypt and Jordan.

Egypt’s intensive pure gasoline services on the Mediterranean have stood largely inactive because the nation’s 2011 rebellion that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

In latest years, the federal government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi rehabilitated and modernized the services. In 2018, Egypt signed a $15 billion cope with Israeli firm Delek Drilling and its U.S. companion, Noble Energy to move pure gasoline there. Egypt goals to create a regional power hub.