Greek-Italian venture signs EastMed gas agreement

Greek-Italian gas joint venture IGI Poseidon said on Tuesday it had signed an agreement with Israel Natural Gas Lines to cooperate on building facilities to connect Israel to a planned gas pipeline in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Greece, Cyprus and Israel last year signed a deal to build the EastMed gas pipeline, which has been in the planning for several years and seeks to transport gas from offshore Israel and Cyprus to Greece and on to Italy to help Europe diversify its energy resources.

IGI Poseidon, a joint venture between Greece’s state-owned gas utility DEPA and Italy’s Edison, said the agreement with the Israeli company, which updates a 2019 memorandum of understanding, aims to connect the EastMed project to the Israeli transmission system and facilitate gas flows from the Eastern Mediterranean to Italy and Europe, via Cyprus.

The two parties will cooperate on planning and licensing the necessary facilities in Israel for the EastMed, IGI Poseidon said in a statement. [Reuters]