Israel Approves Natural Gas Pipeline Link to Europe - BLOOMBERG

July 19, 2020, 2:20 PM GMT+3Alisa Odenheimer

Israel’s cabinet approved a multinational accord to lay a pipeline that will facilitate the export to Europe of natural gas found in Israeli and Cypriot waters.

The $6 billion plan, formulated by the energy ministers of Israel, Cyprus, Greece and Italy, is for a 1,900-kilometer (1,181 miles) corridor that will link known and yet-to-be-discovered gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean basin with European markets through Cyprus, Greece and Italy. A survey of the route is currently being performed, with the aim of reaching a final investment decision within two years and completing the project by 2025.

The project has created friction with Turkey, which says it deprives Turkish Cypriots living in a breakaway state in northern Cyprus of proceeds from the island’s natural resources (Note: The north of Cyprus, always 100% or majority Christian, was 90% Christian before the Turkish invasion of 1974, now 100% Muslim also amid rampant colonization from mainland Turkey).

Turkey gas exploration raises eyebrows - KATHIMERINI

President Anastasiades of Cyprus (middle) with the leaders of
the other six southern EU nations

12.04.2017 : 21:52
Vassilis Nedos

Tensions between Nicosia and Ankara could escalate next week as there are fears that Turkish plans to perform deep-sea drilling and seismic surveys for oil and natural gas resources in the Eastern Mediterranean could be carried out within Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), where the island’s government announced on Tuesday it will conduct its own research.

Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak has said that his country will launch exploration – as early as next week – in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, and that it will be conducting more active two- and three-dimensional seismic surveys in both locations.

Anastasiades: Natural gas supply an incentive for Turkey - KATHIMERINI

25.12.2016 : 13:40

Cyprus’s newly-discovered wealth of offshore natural gas could boost the prospects for a peace settlement on the divided island, President Nicos Anastasiades has said a few days after Nicosia said it had picked Eni, Total and ExxonMobil for three exploration licenses.

In an interview with Kathimerini newspaper ahead of next month’s crucial talks in Geneva, the Greek Cypriot leader said that the prospect of covering a significant part of Turkey’s energy needs and of transforming his country into a regional energy hub could prompt Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan into making the much-needed concessions that would pave the way for a deal.

“The most important thing is for [Turkey] to become an energy hub. The normalization of ties with Israel and the need to get natural gas supplies from there, presupposes that that pipelines will run through Cyprus’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Cyprus Republic may not have veto rights, but it can raise objections over the pipeline route,” said Anastasiades, adding that Ankara could also be interested in the discovery of natural gas deposits.

One Cyprus? - FOREIGN AFFAIRS

October 27, 2016Jonathan Gorvett

A Deal Is Close, But Not Certain

At the end of this month, the island of Cyprus is scheduled to undergo another division, adding to its long history of intercommunal splits. At 4 AM on October 31, the southern, Greek side of the island will set its clocks back by one hour in accordance with European winter time. Yet for the first time ever, on the other side of the UN-patrolled buffer zone dividing the south from the [illegally occupied by Turkey] Turkish-majority north, time will stay the same. There, in the [so-called] Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), the breakaway state recognized only by Turkey, clocks will align with those in Ankara instead, following the Turkish government’s recent decision to abolish daylight saving time.

Turkey-Israel pipeline: no approval from Cyprus - ENERGY GLOBAL

In order for the Turkish-Israel natural gas pipeline to cross through Cypriot territory, Turkey must mend its relationship with Cyrpus.

Recently, Turkey and Israel reached a rapprochement, which saw the end of a six year soured relationship. It is now hoped that Israel can agree to export natural gas from its offshore Mediterranean fields to Turkey.
Cyprus

It is believed that Cyprus, which has been split* into two parts (the Turkish-Cypriot enclave and the Greek-Cypriot internationally recognized, EU-member side), must first unite in order for the pipeline to be approved.