Turkish energy minister 'to visit Israel for pipeline deal'

Energy Minister Berat Albayrak is set to visit Israel by the end of this year to conclude an agreement for the building of a natural gas pipeline from the Jewish state to Turkey, the Israeli energy minister said on July 12.     

A visit by Albayrak would be a significant diplomatic move by Ankara after a rapprochement deal last year between the two countries mended a long-standing rift.     

The crisis was triggered by Israel's deadly storming in 2010 of a Gaza-bound ship which left 10 Turkish activists dead. But the two countries normalized ties in June last year and rapidly begun discussing the gas pipeline project.

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said both countries decided to accelerate efforts to conclude by the end of this year an intergovernmental agreement that will enable the construction of a pipeline from Israel to Turkey.

"Hopefully, Mr. Albayrak will pay a visit to Israel this year in 2017, which will help us accelerate and try to conclude this agreement," Steinitz said at the World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul after meeting Albayrak.

He added that no exact date had been fixed but it would take place in the coming months.  
  
Turkey, which largely depends on foreign supplies for its energy needs, is keen to diversify resources and has a close eye on Israel's own developing resources.

Israel is searching for energy partners to develop its Leviathan natural gas field in a bid to make it economically feasible.

"We want to build a pipeline stretching from Israel to Turkey in order to able to export natural gas from Israel to Turkey," Steinitz said, adding that the Israeli gas could be delivered to Europe and to the Balkans through Turkey.