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Israel aims to boost Red Sea oil deliveries despite ecological dangers

Israel plans to permit more oil tankers to dock at a Red Sea port in Eilat despite environmental threats, as it makes every effort to preserve energy security amidst dispute on numerous fronts, according to Israeli authorities and government documents.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's workplace wishes to withdraw limitations on the quantity of oil that can be unloaded at a. jetty in the city, which sits in the middle of a string of. resorts and beaches and is surrounding to a fragile reef.

The curbs enforced in 2021 by the Environmental Protection. Ministry and which efficiently halted an oil supply handle. the United Arab Emirates, were relieved momentarily late last year. at the start of the Gaza war.

The jetty comes from state-owned Europe Asia Pipeline Co. ( EAPC), which runs a pipeline across Israel linking the. Red and Mediterranean seas as an option for tankers. crossing the Suez Canal.

EAPC wishes to get more oil but ecological regulators. and Eilat's mayor oppose the plan.

With the war versus Hamas triggering battling with. Hezbollah in Lebanon and drawing attacks from other Iranian. proxies in Yemen, Iraq and even by Iran itself, Israel is. pushing to guarantee it can keep its economy running efficiently.

When its primary energy source, the offshore Tamar gas field,. was briefly shut at the beginning of the war with Hamas, the. country turned to products allocated for export.

With Yemeni Houthis interfering with trade in the Red Sea, ships. have diverted to Mediterranean ports. Utilities have developed their. own backup networks.

EAPC signed an offer to transfer large amounts of oil from the. UAE to Europe through its pipeline in 2020, soon after Israel. and the UAE stabilized ties, in one of the most significant. collaborations to emerge from the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords.

The deal was anticipated to move tens of millions of loads. of oil, meaning about 50 tankers docking at the congested Eilat. coastline yearly, the Environmental Protection Ministry said. The previous average was two.

The environment ministry took a hardline policy of no. additional risk and set a limitation of 2 million tons of oil,. successfully blocking the offer.

Eilat's reef is unique in having proved more resilient. to environment change, when numerous reefs around the globe are dying. It is also a huge tourist draw. Its proximity to the jetty leaves. it vulnerable to even the tiniest leakage from one tanker.

Despite those threats, Netanyahu's office advised this. month that the easing of constraints be extended and broadened. to consist of fuel for trade in addition to domestic usage, and even for. capacity to unload oil products in Eilat to be broadened, an. internal report seen showed.

The federal government of Israel does not take an approach of. total risk avoidance - not in security, not in energy and not. in the environment, a ministerial committee formed by Yossi. Shelley, director general of Netanyahu's office, stated in the. report which has not been made public.

Not canceling the constraint of the 'no additional risk'. policy, without managing the danger, and not broadening the. distillates port may cause the closure of the Eilat terminal. and not permit the necessary response in times of emergency.

The committee advised the environment ministry to come up. with a strategy to minimize risks from more oil deliveries.

The Environmental Protection Ministry composed to Netanyahu's. workplace on April 16 after receiving the report, and in its letter. seen said its issues were ignored, the report's. suggestions were undesirable, and that it did not have the. resources to control the proposed increase in shipments.

In arguing its case, the ministry has actually cited past accidents,. like in 2014 when EAPC's pipeline burst, spilling countless. litres of oil into a nature preserve.

It was uncertain whether eliminating the Eilat constraints would. revive the UAE oil deal. Petromal, a system of Abu Dhabi-based. National Holding and among the owners of the company that. signed the handle EAPC, did not instantly react to a. ask for comment.

KEEPING THE OIL FLOWING

EAPC Chairman Erez Halfon invited the government's U-turn. in a statement in which he said the war has actually made clear the. strategic, security and energy importance of EAPC's facility in. Eilat.

Without consistent oil deliveries, the Eilat center will. degenerate and end up being unreliable, EAPC stated.

Nearly all Israel's trade, consisting of energy deliveries, is. seaborne and most takes place along the Mediterranean coast in ports. at Haifa, Ashdod and Ashkelon.

In 2023 Israel imported 267,000 barrels per day of crude. oil, according to data from delivering analytics firm Kpler,. mostly from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Kurdistan.

The Emirati oil offer might be worth about $50 million a year. for EAPC, according to the internal report.

Israel's Energy Ministry informed that oil shipments. need to be enough to economically sustain the terminal however require. to be managed appropriately vis a vis the environment.

One government main dismissed an argument by the. director general of the Environmental Protection Ministry that. there were other ways to keep the jetty functioning.

The professional position was clearly specified that any methods. aside from functional activity will not be sufficient to keep. that channel performance, the official told .

The committee, the official highlighted, did not tell the. Environmental management Ministry exactly how much oil should be. allowed or how to conduct the survey, only that it be brought. out. It offered the ministry 3 months to comply.

(source: Reuters)