Israel and Egypt have agreed to build a pipeline to connect Israel's offshore Leviathan natural gas field to liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in northern Egypt, the Israeli minister said on Sunday.
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Egyptian Energy Minister Tarek el-Molla visited Israel on Sunday and met on the matter with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his counterpart, Yuval Steinitz.
This represented the first official visit by an Egyptian minister to Israel since that of Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, to Jerusalem in July 2016.
Also participating in the meeting were National Security Council head Meir Ben Shabbat, Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company Chairman Magdy Galal, Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Amira Oron and Egyptian Ambassador to Israel Khaled Azmi.
"There is a new era of peace and prosperity for the region with the Abraham Accords. This began of course with the historic peace treaty between Egypt and Israel but now it is becoming something that can better the lives of all the people in economic terms and we think that this is a great opportunity for regional cooperation – Egypt, Israel and the other countries," Netanyahu said.
Israel's Leviathan field, located 130 kilometers (80 miles) off Israel's coast, already supplies the Israeli domestic market and exports gas to Jordan and Egypt. Its shareholders include Chevron and Delek Drilling.
Leviathan's partners have been exploring options to expand the project, including a floating LNG facility or a subsea pipeline to link up with LNG terminals in Egypt that have been idled or run at less than their potential capacity.
Netanyahu, Steinitz and el-Molla discussed the continuation and development of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF), which was launched last year.
In September, energy ministers from six countries – Egypt, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Jordan, and Italy – participated in the launch of this new forum at a virtual event, which Cairo organized.
Steinitz said the two governments were moving ahead with the pipeline plan and were working on a formal agreement.
"The two ministers agreed on the construction of (an) offshore gas pipeline from the Leviathan gas field to the liquefaction facilities in Egypt, in order to increase the gas exports to Europe through the liquefaction facilities in Egypt," Steinitz's office said in a statement.
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Molla also signed a memorandum of understanding for Egypt to help develop the Gaza Marine field with the project's two partners, the Palestine Investment Fund, the sovereign fund of the Palestinian Authority, and Consolidated Contractors Company.
Gaza Marine sits about 30 km (19 miles) off the Palestinian enclave's coast and is estimated to hold over 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
