East Mediterranean Eyes EU And Global LNG Markets For Gas Sales

"There are many challenges, mainly political ones, but... when the economic benefits are overwhelming, those challenges will be overcome," Gideon Tadmor said, referring to historical conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbours as well as between Turkey andCyprus.

Israel took a big step to becoming a natural gas exporter in February when Australia's Woodside Petroleum, a leading player in the LNG sector, signed a deal to take a 25 percent stake in the Leviathan gas field.

This week, Greece launched a tender to study the possibility of a pipeline to carry gas fromIsrael and Cyprus in an effort to reduce dependence on Russian supplies.

And last week it emerged that Italian utility Edison is in talks to buy two Israeli gas fields from Noble Energy and Israel's Delek Drilling.

WANTED: NEW GAS

The region's key advantage is its location that will allow it to supply Europe, the world's biggest integrated gas region, with pipeline gas, generating steady and healthy revenues.

At the same time, its proximity to the Suez Canal would allow the region to arbitrage the world's highest paying LNG markets in Asia and Latin America.