CAIRO — The East Mediterranean pipeline agreement signed by Cyprus, Greece and Israel Jan. 3 in Athens to supply Europe with natural gas has raised questions about its potential impact on Egypt. The project comes at a time when Egypt is striving to become a regional hub for the trade and distribution of liquified natural gas to Europe and Turkey is working to extend its control over energy resources in the Mediterranean through the drilling for gas off the coast of Cyprus.

The future EastMed subsea pipeline is planned to extend over 1,872 kilometers (1,163 miles) and promises to transport 9-11 billion cubic meters of gas annually from the marine reserves of the Eastern Mediterranean Basin off Cyprus and Israel to Greece, as well as to Italy and other countries in southeastern Europe.

Egypt has a strategic location and energy infrastructure with two gas liquefaction stations in Idku and Damietta, from which it exports gas shipments to global markets. A series of gas fields have been discovered in the area during the past few years to supplement gas imported from the fields of Cyprus and Israel.

The largest is the Zohr field discovered in the Mediterranean in August 2015. The field’s reserves were estimated at 30 trillion cubic feet and its production stood at 2.7 billion cubic feet per day at the end of 2019. Zohr brought Egypt back to the export market.