Turkey and Israel announced on 17 July that they have begun joint analysis into the project of construction of gas and oil pipeline from the Mediterranean shore of Turkey to Israel. According to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Hilmi Gular, the joint analysis will be completed in ten months and construction of pipelines – in three years.

A source in the Embassy of Turkey in Israel, who preferred to remain anonymous, said to TrendCapital on 18 July that the key goal of the project is the export of the Russian and Azerbaijani gas to Israel.

“Israel can also serve as a bridge for the transportation of the Azerbaijani oil and Russian gas,” a source said.

According to a source, several months ago, the pipeline company Ashkelon-Eylat initiated a channel for transportation of oil from the Turkish Ceyhan port to East Asia by using Israel’s infrastructure. The project will be realized by the consortium of the energy companies on cargo transportation.

The annual oil demand of Israel amounts to 12mln tons, 2mln of which is met due to the Azerbaijani crude oil. In the meanwhile, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline has shortened the way of supply of the Azerbaijani oil to Israel from the previous 2,000 km to 600km.

Binyamin Ben, the minister of national infrastructure of Israel, who visited Baku on June, stated that Israel is prepared to offer its transit services on dispatching the Azerbaijani oil to the Asian markets. The Azerbaijani oil and Russian gas is expected to be shipped from the Ceyhan to the Mediterranean Ashkelon port of Israel.