The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Minister of Infrastructure, Energy and Water, Yuval Steinitz, met Eni’s Chief Executive Officer, Claudio Descalzi, on Thursday in Jerusalem.
Eni’s CEO presented the importance of synergies in joint development of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean through future allocation of resources, as well as through export and transport infrastructure of Israel’s gas.
Israel’s Prime Minister and Descalzi discussed new developments in the eastern Mediterranean basin gas fields, including Eni’s recent gas discovery in the Zohr field , offshore Egypt. They also discussed the future development of the gas fields in Israel’s economic waters.
To remind, announcing the discovery late in August, Eni said the find, largest ever in the Mediterranean, could hold a potential of 30 trillion cubic feet of lean gas in place (5.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent in place).
Netanyahu and Descalzi agreed that in light of the growing demand for natural gas in the region, and in order to continue to promote the common interests of the countries and major energy companies in the region, further possibilities for cooperation need to be explored, including joint development or transfer of natural gas to different consumers.
Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu said: “As part of the growing strategic cooperation between Israel and Italy in a variety of fields, I see great importance to cooperation with Italy also in the field of energy.”
Descalzi also said that by sharing future resources as well as export and transportation infrastructures of Israel, Cyprus and Egypt, the area could become a regional gas hub able to also provide an important contribution to the European energy security.
Thursday’s visit is the follow up of previous meetings that Eni’s CEO had held on this subject with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi , on October 19 , in Cairo, and with the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades , September 10 , in Nicosia.
Offshore Energy Today Staff