WASHINGTON: The United States voiced its concerns over the planned subsea pipeline to provide natural gas from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe, a project strongly opposed by Turkey, Greek sources said.
It displays an apparent U-turn over a project supported by the Trump administration.
Washington let its concerns be known recently, in a note sent to Greece, another source told Reuters.
Greece, the Greek Cypriot administration and Israel have approved an agreement for the EastMed pipeline, which has been in the planning stage for several years. The countries had aimed to reach a final investment decision this year and have the 6 billion euro ($6.82 billion) scheme completed by 2025 to help Europe diversify its energy resources.
“The American side expressed to the Greek side reservations as to the rationale of the EastMed pipeline, (and) raised issues of its economic viability and environmental (issues),” one source said.
Reports of the U.S. having reservations over the pipeline were published in Greek media.
They stand in contrast to comments as recently as December 2020 by then-U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette that the U.S. would continue to work with interested parties to “ensure that the infrastructure will be developed.”
Greece, the official said, had taken note of Washington’s views. “The Greek side highlighted that this project has been declared a ‘special project’ by the European Union and any decision on its viability will logically have an economic impact,” the official said.
Touted as an alternative to help ease Europe’s dependence on Russian gas, the 1,900-kilometer (1,180-mile) project is expected to initially carry 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas a year to Europe.
The U.S., the official said, believed priority should be given to interconnecting the electricity grids of countries in the region.
In October, Greek and Greek Cypriot administration vessels in the Eastern Mediterranean caused renewed tensions with Turkey. The research vessel Nautical Geo was sounding out whether and where a pipeline could be built on the seabed through which natural gas from Israel and Greek Cypriot administration could be piped to Crete and from there to central Europe. The Turkish Naval Forces Command pushed the research vessel back which violated Turkey’s continental shelf, Defense Ministry sources said, while the Foreign Ministry had described these explorations as “provocative activities” that endangered peace and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean. Ankara announced that it would take all “necessary steps on the ground” to stop this.
Turkey’s view is that any project that aims to sideline the rights of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in the Eastern Mediterranean will be unsuccessful.
Greece has often been embroiled in tensions with neighboring Turkey over a range of issues, from competing claims over hydrocarbon resources in the Aegean Sea to the demilitarization of islands. Greece’s burgeoning arms program is designed to counter Turkish rights in the Eastern Mediterranean, against which France is among the few EU states to have offered public support in past months. -Agencies
