April 27, 201813:10
Richard Wachman
- Turkey’s aim to become regional energy hub not yet achieved
- Ankara to collect transit fees, tariffs and taxes
It has been a decade in the making: The $40 billion Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), arguably the gas industry’s most significant and ambitious undertaking yet, involving seven governments and 11 companies.
The 3,500 kilometers pipeline corridor is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the global oil and gas industry, bringing Caspian gas through three linked networks across Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Greece and the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy where it can be conveyed to European markets.
SGC has been pushed by the EU since 2008 as a strategic imperative to reduce the bloc’s dependence on Russian gas, and has been bankrolled by EU and international funding, including loans from the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, which counts Saudi Arabia and UAE as members.
June 22, 2017
George N. Tzogopoulos
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 505
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The EastMed pipeline, a proposed means of transporting gas from the eastern Mediterranean to new markets, would be expensive and difficult – but it is feasible. Easier and less expensive solutions are also being considered, but the security element works in EastMed’s favor. EastMed would allow Cyprus, Greece, and Israel to collaborate while developing their roles as hubs of stability in a turbulent neighborhood. The EU and the US would likely see improvement in Western energy dependence. And Israel would have the opportunity to improve its relationship with the EU, not only by participating in a project of European interest but also by finding new clients for its own gas in the European market.
