GCT Newsroom
December 30, 2025
A trilateral summit in Jerusalem this week between Israel, Greece, and Cyprus has advanced strategic ties amid shared regional challenges, including tensions with Turkey, while yielding key economic breakthroughs in energy cooperation.
One major development: Plans to link Israel's offshore gas fields—Leviathan, Tamar, and Karish-Tanin—to new LNG facilities in Cyprus for worldwide export via tanker ships. Officials from Israel and Greece, speaking to Globes, revealed that anticipated revenues could attract private investment for the short pipeline, sparing governments from direct funding.
Unlike current exports to Jordan (via the Fajr pipeline) and Egypt (direct line), which serve local needs, Cyprus-bound gas targets global markets. Egypt, facing a production shortfall of 25 BCM annually against 70 BCM consumption, imports heavily from Israel—rising from 2.2 BCM in 2020 to 10 BCM in 2024—despite economic strains and a $35 billion deal for 130 BCM from Leviathan partners. Last year, Israel exported 13.2 BCM while producing 13.9 BCM domestically, a sharp increase from 2020's 4.3 BCM exports.
Energy Minister Eli Cohen has explored options like onshore or floating LNG units to diversify exports. In parallel, construction on the Israel-Cyprus electricity interconnector—linking to the EU grid—begins soon.
The Cypriot government affirmed commitment to joint projects in gas, power links, and renewables, "based on international law and respect for all countries' rights to their exclusive economic zones and continental shelves."
This veiled reference targets Turkey, which disputes maritime boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean, rejecting UN conventions on continental shelves and viewing islands like Cyprus as extensions of the mainland—limiting them to 6 nautical miles of territorial waters. Turkey's 1974 invasion and support for the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus further complicate claims, including potential economic zones.
The pipeline could exacerbate Turkish ire, especially after Ankara's opposition to the Cyprus-Lebanon maritime deal and talks for a Turkish-Syrian border agreement under Erdogan's influence, potentially encroaching on Cypriot zones key to the project.
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