Israeli minister says interconnection with Gulf grid would boost Mideast energy security

Israeli minister says interconnection with Gulf grid would boost Mideast energy security

LONDON: The Israeli energy minister has said connecting his country's electricity grid with other regional economies would boost energy security for the entire Middle East. Israeli energy minister Yuval Steinitz made the remarks at the CERAWeek virtual gathering of global energy industry leaders on Wednesday, where his counterparts from the UAE and Egypt were also speaking. "The connection with Egypt and the Emirates and the regional cooperation give us the assurances that we will be able to increase energy security in the future," he said. "Just one example, if we will be able to connect our electricity transmission systems between Egypt, Israel, the United Arab Emirates “” and maybe through Jordan and Saudi Arabia “” and we are also discussing connecting ourselves and this region to Europe through Cyprus and Greece, this would give us better energy security than we ever knew in the past." His remarks come as the Middle East energy landscape is being rapidly redrawn as new gas finds in the Eastern Mediterranean spark new rivalries at the same time as former foes reach rapprochement. "It is a new Middle East “” especially in the field of energy," he said. "The establishment of the East Mediterranean Gas