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They aim to reach a final investment decision in 2022 and
completion by 2025.
European governments and Israel last year agreed to proceed with
the so-called EastMed project, a $6 billion pipeline project
that is expected to initially carry 10 billion cubic meters of
gas per year from Israeli and Cypriot waters to the Greek island
of Crete, on to the Greek mainland and into Europe's gas network
via Italy.
The energy ministers of Greece, Israel and Cyprus - Kostis
Hatzidakis, Yuval Steinitz and Yiorgos Lakkotrypis - are
expected to sign an agreement on the pipeline at a ceremony in
Athens on Thursday.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades are
expected to attend the event.
Greece has said the agreement will be concluded once Italy signs
off too.
"With Italy taking part, the project will take its final shape
as the most dynamic option to guarantee the European Union's
energy security from gas reserves in the Southeastern
Mediterranean," Greek energy minister Hatzidakis said on
Thursday.
After meeting Mitsotakis in Athens, Cypriot President
Anastasiades said the deal sets the foundation for closer energy
cooperation in the Middle East.
A number of large gas fields have been discovered in the eastern
Mediterranean Levant Basin since 2009.
However, the region lacks significant oil and gas infrastructure
and political relations between the countries - including
Cyprus, Greece, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Syria - are strained
on a number of fronts.
The signing for the EastMed pipeline comes weeks after Turkey
and Libya struck an accord on sea boundaries in the
Mediterranean, a move which Greece, Cyprus and Israel opposed.
Analysts say that pact could present a barrier to the proposed
pipeline which would have to cross the planned Turkey-Libya
economic zone.
The pipeline project is owned by IGI Poseidon, a joint venture
between Greek gas firm DEPA and Italian energy group Edison.
DEPA on Thursday signed a letter of intent with Energean, a gas
producer with a focus on the Eastern Mediterranean, to buy two
billion cubic meters of gas from Energean's gas fields off
Israel via the planned pipeline.
DEPA said the gas volumes it would secure from Energean account
for 20% of the pipeline's initial capacity and that the
agreement was a key step toward the commercial viability of the
project.
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; editing by Jason Neely)
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