Israel, EU, Egypt sign MOU to supply natural gas to Europe

Israel, Egypt and the European Union signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday under which Israel will begin exporting natural gas to Europe.

The MOU was signed at a ceremony in Cairo. Under the terms of the deal, Israel will send its natural gas to Egypt, where it will be liquified for export to Europe.

The agreement will help European nations reduce their dependency on Russian oil and natural gas in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Israel’s Energy Minister Karine Elharrar, who was present at the signing together with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek el-Molla, called the agreement “a tremendous moment in which little Israel is becoming a significant player in the global energy market.”

“The memorandum of understanding will allow Israel to export Israeli natural gas to Europe for the first time, and it is even more impressive when one looks at the string of significant agreements we have signed in the past year, positioning Israel and the Israeli energy and water economy as a key player in the world,” she said.

The signing comes a day after President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen met with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to discuss strengthening the relationship between Israel and the EU.

“I came to Israel to make our unique partnership even stronger, by deepening our bilateral cooperation on many topics, from energy to health and innovation,” she said.

“We want to boost our energy cooperation with Israel,” von der Leyen said. “The European Union was the biggest, most important client from the supply from Russia, but with the [war in Ukraine] and the attempt by Russia to blackmail us be deliberately cutting energy supplies, we decided to get rid of the dependency on Russian fossil fuels. It is for us very important that we are now discussing that [Israel] is willing to increase the deliveries of gas to the EU via Egypt.”