An Israeli gas platform, controlled by a U.S.-Israeli energy group, is seen some 24 km west of Israel's port city of Ashdod on Feb. 25, 2013. REUTERS/Amir CohenCAIRO – 19 February 2018: Agreements signed by the government or the private sector to import gas from eastern Mediterranean countries strengthens its position against Turkish ambitions to control the sector in the region, an energy expert told Egypt Today on Monday.Around 64 BCM of natural gas from Israel’s Tamar and Leviathan reservoirs will be exported to private Egyptian company Dolphinus over a decade for $15 billion, according to a Monday statement by Delek Drilling, one of the two companies leading gas projects in reservoirs. Egypt has another agreement with Cyprus to transmit gas from Cypriot gas-filled Aphrodite to the Egyptian coast.Cairo has thus won the competition with Ankara over the sources of gas in the eastern Mediterranean, while Egypt continues to consolidate its alliance with Greece, Cyprus and the region at large, said Medhat Youssef, former head of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.Such deals accelerate Egypt’s plan to be transformed into a regional energy hub. The agreement awaits prerequisite regulatory and government approvals in both countries, according to the contract. Possible options are the East Mediterranean Gas Company’s pipeline from Arish to Ashkelon, which has repeatedly been attacked, and the Jordanian-Israeli pipeline.However, the agreement stipulates that the supply will continue until 2030, or until the 64 BCM have been fulfilled, whichever is sooner.

Source: Egypt Today February 19, 2018 18:33 UTC