Greece, Cyprus and Israel have signed an agreement on the 1,900 km long East Med gas pipeline project, which would transport around 10 bcm/year of gas from Israel and Cyprus to Crete (Greece), mainland Greece, Italy and other south-eastern European countries. The project is developed by IGI Poseidon, a joint venture of Edison (Italy) and DEPA (Greece). The final investment decision (FID) is expected in 2022 and the US$6-7bn gas pipeline project could be completed by 2025.
The agreement comes amid tensions following the maritime agreement concluded between Turkey and the Libyan government of union (GNA) in November 2019, that Greece, Cyprus and Israel opposed. The proposed East Med gas pipeline project would have to cross the planned Turkey-Libya economic zone and Turkey has expressed its reserves on the project that would be redundant with the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP).
Many large gas fields have been discovered in the eastern Mediterranean basin since 2009 and gas reserves are now estimated at over 900 bcm off Israel and at more than 128 bcm off Cyprus (Aphrodite gas field). In December 2017, Cyprus, Greece, Israel and Italy had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the project.