Israel Could Be Key to 2020 Middle East Geopolitics - THE BEGIN-SADAT CENTER FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES

January 2, 2020
Frank Musmar
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,389, January 2, 2020

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Israel’s geographical position means it must stay agile and manage complex relations with its Muslim neighbors through quiet collaboration and smart use of its technological and economic advantages. Over the past two decades, Israel has discovered offshore gas, begun extensive seawater desalination, and dramatically expanded its navy’s platforms and missions. Ten years ago, Israel depended on Egypt’s natural gas; nowadays, Israel exports natural gas to Egypt and Jordan.

American chambers of Greece, Cyprus, Israel hail Trump’s signing of EastMed Act - KATHIMERINI

FRIDAY DECEMBER 27, 2019 / 18:22

The American chambers of commerce in Greece, Cyprus and Israel have issued a joint statement hailing US President Donald Trump’s signing of the EastMed Act as a step toward promoting security and energy partnerships in the region.

“On the 20th of December, President Trump signed the EastMed Act to primarily promote security and energy partnerships in the Eastern Mediterranean. This Act, otherwise cited as the ‘Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act of 2019,’ exhibits the historic metamorphosis in United States foreign policy in the Eastern Mediterranean, reflecting to a great extent the strategic view and principle that the security of partners and allies in the Eastern Mediterranean region is critical to the security of the United States and Europe,” the joint statement said.

“Through the Act, the United States commits to continue robust official strategic engagement with Israel, Greece and Cyprus and to actively participate in the trilateral dialogue on energy, maritime security, cybersecurity and protection of critical infrastructure conducted among the three countries,” the statement said.

Sinai Security Fears Snare Israel's Gas Exports to Egypt - HAARETZ

Tamar Petroleum's IPO back in July 2017 

Sep 16, 2019 3:13 AM

Eran Azran

• Egypt says Israeli gas exports on track but cites low figures
• Israel to begin gas exports to Egypt within months, energy minister says
• Egypt praised for economic reforms, but millions of Egyptians barely survive

Investor anxieties over the Tamar natural gas field have deepened in recent days amid security concerns about the pipeline designated to deliver Israeli gas to Egypt.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that delays in completing a key agreement to facilitate the exports were due to the tense security situation in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

“There’s some infrastructure that needs to be repaired in that area. That’s part of the holdup for shipping the gas,” the paper quoted U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette as saying. “No one wants to send individuals into harm’s way.”

Egypt’s position as regional gas export hub for East Med gets US support - ENTERPRISE

Sunday, 15 September 2019

Egypt’s position as regional gas export hub for East Med gets US support: US Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette met with Oil Minister Tarek El Molla on Thursday in Cairo to discuss moving forward with the US-Egypt Strategic Energy Dialogue — a bilateral cooperation initiative aimed at strengthening Egypt’s energy production, storage and distribution capacity. The project, which came out of an MoU signed during US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry’s visit in July, seeks to capitalize on Egypt’s position as the regional gas export hub for the East Mediterranean Gas Forum countries and hopes to attract new energy investments, said Brouillette. Following the meeting, Brouillette held a roundtable with a select few news outlets, including Enterprise, to discuss the initiative and Egypt’s role in the region’s energy. The Wall Street Journal also had the story.

Energy Security Key in Bolstered Cyprus-Egypt Ties - THE NEW YORK TIMES / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sept. 11, 2019

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus' defense minister says the east Mediterranean island nation and neighbor Egypt are exchanging information to bolster security around an offshore search for natural gas as part of enhanced defense ties.

Savvas Angelides says the two neighbors' information-sharing extends to countering any extremist threats.

The Cypriot minister says defense ties are also being upgraded between Cyprus, Egypt and Greece as through joint military exercises and personnel exchanges.

Angelides was speaking Wednesday after escorting his counterpart, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Ahmed Zaki, to a meeting with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

Cyprus and Egypt share a sea border delineating their respective exclusive economic zones where each country is carrying out exploratory gas drilling.

Officials said a recent discovery of Egypt's Zohr gas field bodes well for more discoveries in Cypriot waters.

More US companies will join Cyprus gas exploitation, says Ambassador - IN CYPRUS / CNA

September 5, 2019 at 4:19pm
Annie Charalambous (edited by)

More US energy companies will operate in Cyprus to help extract rich natural gas resources, joining ExxonMobil and Noble Energy.

This is what US Ambassador Judith Garber told a business dinner in Nicosia on Wednesday.

“We are proud that two American companies – ExxonMobil and Noble Energy – are participating in this game-changing development…I firmly believe other U.S. companies in the energy sector will join them, as Cyprus transitions from discovery of energy resources to the hard task of bringing those resources to market,” she also said.

She then stressed that the discovery of hydrocarbons in the EEZ of Cyprus offers “great promise and responsibility”.

“We hope, such resources promote prosperity in the entire Eastern Mediterranean region and help to diversify Europe’s energy supply,” she added.

Eastern Mediterranean Energy Center is Necessary - INTERNATIONAL POLICY DIGEST

22 MAY 2019
Robert M. Cutler and Theodore Karasik

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to the eastern Mediterranean in March accentuates the American search for ways to integrate energy development into a broader security entente or organization. It came nearly at the same time that the bipartisan-sponsored Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act of 2019 was introduced in the U.S. Congress. This bill mandates the establishment of a United States-Eastern Mediterranean Energy Center and requires the Secretary of State to report to Congress on a “plan to work with United States businesses seeking to invest in Eastern Mediterranean energy exploration, development, and cooperation.”

The international security aspects of the Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act focus on cooperation with Cyprus, Greece, and Israel. The language proposing to establish the Energy Center, however, does not have that restriction.

According to the legislation, the center would be established by the Secretary of Energy in consultation with the Secretary of State. At least the initial funds would therefore presumably come from appropriations to the respective Departments in the executive branch. Yet it would not need to be based in Washington.

'Whole new day' for Cyprus' relationship with US, says senator - KATHIMERINI

16.04.2019 : 11:35

Cyprus is in a position to “find a whole new day in its relationship with the United States and with the West,” US Senator Robert Menendez said during a visit to Nicosia on Tuesday.

The New Jersey senator's comments came after he held informal talks with Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiades during a visit that comes a week after he announced a bipartisan bill seeking to lift the US arms embargo on Cyprus, which has been in place since 1987.

The discussion with Anastasiades was “excellent, extensive and very positive,” Menendez said, according to Cypriot media.

“We talked about many important subjects; the Eastern Mediterranean’s security strategy and energy strategy, Cyprus’ continuous engagement with the United States, questions of our foreign policy in the region, economic questions, the changing dynamics of Cyprus in its banking zone,” the US senator was reported as saying.

Greece, Cyprus, Jordan cement East Med Gas Forum relationship - NEW EUROPE

APRIL 12, 2019, 20:48
Kostis Geropoulos

Closer cooperation among the countries of the region can only add to peace and stability – much needed in the East Med.
ATHENS – The leaders of Greece, Cyprus and Jordan will hold a trilateral summit in Amman on 14 April to expand cooperation in the East Mediterranean region, which has strategic significance in the areas of energy and security.

In the second summit between Greece, Cyprus and Jordan, the leaders will focus on means to expand cooperation between the three countries in various fields, mainly economy and investment, and building on the outcomes of the first summit hosted by Cyprus in January 2018 where the three parties signed several agreements, including renewable energy.

(Former) Natural Hydrocarbons Company CEO Charles Ellinas told New Europe on 12 April that the summit would boost energy and security partnership in the region.

FM outlines Cyprus’ vision to establish a regional security and cooperation organisation - IN-CYPRUS PHILELEFTHEROS

March 25, 2019 at 8:45am
Edited by Andreas Nicolaides

Foreign Minister, Nikos Christodoulides, outlined Cyprus’ vision to establish an organization of security and cooperation in the region, speaking on Sunday in Washington, during a discussion held in the framework of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference.

He said that Cyprus’ vision is to create a regional security and cooperation organisation, with the participation of all like-minded countries, in the framework of which all regional matters of cooperation will be discussed.

Secretary General of the Organization of American States Luis Almagro and AIPAC’s International Affairs Director Stephen Schneider coordinated the discussion.

Replying to a question the Cypriot Foreign Minister set out the framework of relations between Cyprus and Israel, as a threefold one.

On the bilateral level, he noted the close cooperation between the two countries, which extends beyond the energy sector to matters of security, technology and health. He added that contact between their peoples is also enhanced.

Pompeo and circumstance won't make EastMed pipeline a reality - THE JERUSALEM POST

MARCH 25, 2019 00:04 
GABRIEL MITCHELL 

The reduced presence of the US Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean coincided with increased maritime tensions across the region.

With the Purim holiday last week, many took a break from the country’s exhausting election cycle. But for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Wednesday evening was an opportunity to reinforce his position as Israel’s leading statesman. 

Hosting the sixth trilateral summit between Israel, Greece, and Cyprus, Netanyahu hoped special guest US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would deliver a strong showing of support for the embattled premier and his regional energy aspirations.
Significant regional developments have transpired since the last summit. In January 2019, Cypriot, Egyptian, Greek, Israeli, Italian, Jordanian and Palestinian energy ministers met in Cairo with the intention of establishing the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, an institution for regional energy cooperation. Coincidentally, the forum’s optimism was rewarded in recent weeks as major discoveries were made off the coasts of Cyprus and Egypt.

Exxon Mobil is reportedly considering future exploration in Israel’s waters.

Pompeo welcomes trilateral cooperation (Update 2) - CYPRUS MAIL

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, President Anastasiades,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Greek
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Jerusalem

MARCH 20, 2019

Jean Christou

The governments of Cyprus, the US, Israel and Greece on Wednesday agreed to increase regional cooperation, support energy independence and security, and to “defend against external malign influences” in the Eastern Mediterranean and the broader Middle East.

The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who attended the Jerusalem summit, expressed US support for the trilateral mechanism established by the three countries when, according to a brief official declaration following the summit, they met “to affirm their shared commitment to promoting peace, stability, security and prosperity in the Eastern Mediterranean region”.

According to the statement, Pompeo noted the importance of increased cooperation with the three countries.

Things Are About to Change: Oil and Gas Have Been Found in the Eastern Mediterranean - THE NATIONAL INTEREST

March 10, 2019

Tony Chavez

Large quantities of oil and natural gas have been discovered in the East Med and the race to extract them has begun. These hydrocarbon finds hold the potential to build regional stability and to bolster the economies of important US allies and partners, all of which is in the interest of the United States. But these discoveries could just as easily stoke further instability and conflict if nations default to historic resentments and if regional powers jockey to monopolize on or block access to this strategic treasure.

Extending from Israel and Egypt in the East and South to Turkey, Greece and Italy in the North and West, the Eastern Mediterranean has long been an economically dynamic and politically important region for the United States and its NATO allies. It is about to become even more important.

Large quantities of oil and natural gas have been discovered in the East Med and the race to extract them has begun. These hydrocarbon finds hold the potential to build regional stability and to bolster the economies of important U.S. allies and partners, all of which is in the interest of the United States. But these discoveries could just as easily stoke further instability and conflict if nations default to historic resentments and if regional powers jockey to monopolize on or block access to this strategic treasure.

Anastasiades off to Egypt for first-ever EU-Arab League Summit - CYPRUS MAIL

February 23, 2019

President Nicos Anastasiades leaves for Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt on Sunday, to attend the 1st EU-Arab League Summit, in the framework of which he is set to have bilateral meetings with heads of states in the region and to promote Cyprus’ initiative to play a coordinating role in introducing policies and strategies by neighbouring countries to tackle climate change.

The EU-League of Arab States (LAS) summit will bring together for the first time, heads of state or government with EU leaders.

European Council President Donald Tusk will co-chair the meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. He will represent the EU along with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Anastasiades will meet with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday, and Lebanese Premier Saad Hariri and Kind Abdullah of Jordan on Monday.

The meetings will offer the opportunity to further promote and enhance bilateral cooperation as well as the trilateral cooperation and to point out Cyprus’ role as a European pillar of stability and as a state that can boost security in the region by playing its role in the area, a statement said.

Israel's Leviathan Energy Prize: Where Will The Gas Go? - FORBES

Feb 19, 2019, 07:35am
Ariel Cohen

Israel is finally emerging as a natural gas player in the Mediterranean. In the last week of January, the Israeli Navy conducted a complex drill simulating attacks on the country’s offshore oil and gas infrastructure. The exercise included coordinated operations between dozens of naval vessels and aircraft, and even incorporated a live-fire missile test against an abandoned cargo vessel (imitating an enemy transport filled with Hamas or Hezbollah militants). Israel’s week-long “Raging Sea” operation comes on the heels of two joint military drills with Cypriot forces held in November and December – presumably to protect the region’s newest and most valuable energy asset – the Leviathan offshore gas field.

The Leviathan falls almost exclusively in Israeli territorial waters, but neighboring states have demonstrated a mutual interest in seeing the reservoir and surrounding plays developed. Indeed, the vast economic potential of Eastern Mediterranean hydrocarbons has galvanized diplomatic and economic ties between Israel, Cyprus, and Greece. In December, the three nations held a trilateral summit in Beersheba, Israel, where they agreed to launch the EastMed pipeline project, a $7 billion endeavor that would see Israeli gas pumped to Greece via Cyprus and Crete at a rate of 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) per annum. Once in Greece, the gas would then connect to the 20 bcm per annum Poseidon pipeline in Italy, and then onward to the rest of Europe.

Beyond Energy: The Significance of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum - INSS

February 3, 2019, INSS Insight No. 1133
Ofir Winter, Gallia Lindenstrauss

The Energy Ministers of Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority met in Cairo in mid-January 2019 to discuss the establishment of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, which will serve as the umbrella for cooperation and dialogue regarding the development of gas resources in the region. While the subject of energy is the basis for the forum, there are also broader geostrategic processes that led to its establishment, and they reflect the regional states’ shared perceptions regarding the importance of the Eastern Mediterranean to their national security. The countries of the region could leverage these processes into additional partnerships in the Eastern Mediterranean, beyond the issue of gas resources. However, to serve as a base for long term regional strategic development, the Gas Forum must achieve other objectives: strengthen regional recognition – particularly in Arab countries – of the potential value of cooperative relations in the Eastern Mediterranean that include Israel; increase the human and civic interactions between all peoples of the region; and continue to foster the concept of a shared regional space.

Cyprus: US to lift Cyprus arms embargo in security boost - THE REPUBLIC / AP

JAN/18/19 3:26 PM
Menelaos Hadjicostis

NICOSIA, Cyprus — The U.S. will soon start lifting a decades-old arms embargo on Cyprus because Washington acknowledges the Mediterranean island nation’s contribution to bolstering regional stability and security, the Cypriot foreign minister said Friday.

Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides said that Washington sees the “added value” of allowing Cyprus to acquire military equipment that would help enhance its capabilities to boost regional security.

The embargo was imposed in 1987 with the aim of preventing an arms buildup that would hamper diplomatic efforts to reunify divided Cyprus. The island was split along ethnic lines in 1974 when Turkey invaded in the wake of a coup aimed at union with Greece.

Christodoulides said the process to lift the embargo has been set in motion in the U.S. Congress, reflecting a “positive shift” in that Washington no longer views Cyprus solely as an unsettled conflict of ethnic division.

“This is proof, if you like, of the recognition by the U.S. administration of the positive role that Cyprus plays as a pillar of stability and security in the broader region,” Christodoulides told The Associated Press.

Elbit Systems (ESLT) Reports $15M Contract from Energean Israel to Provide a Security Solution for Karish-Tanin Gas Fields FPSO - STREET INSIDER

January 7, 2019 5:57 AM EST 

Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESLT) announced today that it was awarded a $15 million contract from Energean Israel Ltd. ("Energean"), a subsidiary of Energean Oil and Gas plc (ENOG), to supply a comprehensive solution for the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) platform of the offshore Karish-Tanin gas fields. The contract will be performed over an approximately two-year period, with warranty and logistic support continuing for an additional 10 years.

The technological suite to be supplied by the Company's subsidiary, Elbit Security Systems Ltd., (ELSEC), includes a wide range of sensors, among them electro-optic systems, radars, sonars, a command and control center as well as equipping rapid interception boats with a dedicated suite of sensors. The security solution will enable to detect and identify both surface and underwater threats and will assist security teams to respond efficiently.

The EastMed Pipeline Project in Perspective - GLOBAL RISK INSIGHTS

January 6, 2019
Ezra Friedman

The EastMed gas pipeline between Cyprus, Greece and Israel will revolutionise the economies and geo-politics of the region. The project comes from an emerging alliance between the three countries who must move forward cautiously in the face of neighbouring States’ opposition.

Eastern Mediterranean: the Bigger Picture

On December 20th, the Prime Ministers of Cyprus, Greece and Israel converged on the southern Israeli city of Beersheba. All three parties publicly committed to signing a high-level agreement in the near future. Such an agreement would solidify one of the longest and deepest underwater gas pipeline in the world.

It is expected to deliver approximately 10 billion cubic meters (BCM) of natural gas to the European Union (EU) through Greece and Italy. The EU is keen to support the project and diversify its natural gas imports away from the heavily sanctioned Russian Federation and declining North Sea gas production. The EastMed project would fulfil roughly 10-15% the EU’s projected natural gas needs. The United States is also supporting the project as it sees the growing trilateral alliance as a bulwark of democracy and stability in a largely authoritarian and war-torn region.

Egypt's Sissi Confirms Unprecedented Military Cooperation With Israel - HAARETZ

Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, Africa 2018 Forum, Egypt December 9, 2018

Jan 04, 2019 5:21 PM

• Egyptian president addresses cooperation against militants in Sinai in interview for CBS
• Cairo's envoy to the U.S. asks that the interview be withheld from broadcast

Egypt's military cooperation with Israel has reached unprecedented levels, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi told CBS News in an interview scheduled to air Sunday.

Sissi was referring primarily to security cooperation against militants in the northern Sinai – cooperation that Egypt has until now avoided discussing publicly.

Asked whether cooperation between the sides can be described as the "closest ever," Sissi said: "That is correct…We have a wide range of cooperation with the Israelis."