Greece-Israel-Cyprus Relations: Ripe for Expansion? - JERUSALEM CENTER FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS (JCPA)

December 18, 2016
Dr. George Voskopoulos

Institute for Contemporary Affairs, Founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation

Vol. 16, No. 20

• Relations with Greece and Cyprus provide Israel with allied neighbors and bring Israel closer to Europe in terms of security, trade, and energy.

• Israel, Greece, and Cyprus are the only working democracies in a region of undemocratic, semi-democratic, and failing states. This is a powerful motivating factor for cooperation.

• Israeli-Greek relations have advanced to a degree where the militaries’ air forces and navies are conducting joint operations and joint maneuvers.

• Israel expressed deep gratitude to both countries for sending fire-fighting aircraft when widespread fires hit Israel in November 2016.

• Greece, Israel, and Cyprus have decided to formalize their proposal for the construction of a pipeline from gas fields off the coast of Israel. The three democratic countries can guarantee in the long-term a secure means of delivery in an effort to minimize Europe’s dependence on Russian gas.

The Geopolitics of Israel’s Offshore Gas Reserves | Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

April 4, 2013

David Wurmser




The flow of natural gas from Israel’s Tamar reservoir in the Mediterranean to the Ashdod reception facility was inaugurated on March 30, 2013, ushering in a new era in Israel’s energy sector. Israel will not only become independent in being able to supply its own energy needs, but it is likely to become an energy exporter as its maritime gas fields are further developed.

On January 17, 2009, Israel’s economy and even its strategic stature changed when a team led by the Texan firm Noble Energy discovered gas in the Tamar field in the eastern Mediterranean, which is estimated to contain 9.7 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas. The Tamar well-heads which contain methane gas are rated at a high level of purity, with an energy value of production per well-head over four-fold higher than Saudi oil well-heads. Two years later, the same team drilling a few dozen kilometers further west discovered a monstrous gas field, appropriately called Leviathan, which is now estimated to contain 18 TCF and could begin supplying gas in 2016.