Turkish energy company Turcas Petrol has announced that it is considering building a 500 km pipeline to transport natural gas from Israel's Leviathan field to Turkey. The Leviathan natural gas field was discovered in December 2010 and is located off the coast of Israel in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Turcas is currently in talks with Enerjisa, owned by Turkey's Sabanci Holding and Germany’s E.On, regarding the purchase of gas from the Israeli field. Batu Aksoy, Chief Execuitve Officer of Turcas Petrol, stated that the proposed purchase of gas and potential pipeline would strengthen the alliance between Turcas and Enerjisa. During the initial stage, the companies are planning to transport natural gas from Israel's Tamar and Leviathan regions through pipelines. In the medium-term Cypriot gas will be also be added to the route. In the long-term, the companies envisage that the US$ 2 billion 500 km undersea pipeline, if constructed, would transport some 7 - 10 billion m3/y of gas to Turkey.
However, industry insiders stated that a stable international political environment is important in order for major projects such as this to be implemented. The significance of the Turkey-Israel normalisation talks, which the Israeli Prime Minister is due to finalise, was further noted.
Edited from various sources by Rosalie Starling