On Sunday, the Spokesman of the US State Department, Ned Price said that the country “is open to the possibility of an energy interconnection between Greece and Libya.”
In press statements, he said that the US “continues to support projects that promote the energy interconnection of the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa, with Europe.”
He clarified that the US “places special emphasis on electricity connections, as it believes that they help the energy transition process and enhance energy security.”
In response to the possibility of creating a pipeline that would connect Greece to Libya, Price explained that, “the development of resources in the eastern Mediterranean should promote cooperation and provide the foundation for sustainable energy security and economic prosperity across the region.”
He added that the US continues to support energy projects that will connect vital energy markets, and in particular electricity interconnections that help prepare for the clean energy transition that enhances energy security and sustainability.
He noted that Libya has to settle down politically first, with one government for the whole country.
Notably, the Chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), Farhat Bengdara said that “the idea of a pipeline project to connect with Greece, and another line to the Egyptian city of Damietta is being studied. In addition to the current line linking Libya to Italy.”
Last month, Libya and Turkey signed a series of economic agreements that included potential energy exploration in maritime areas.
The agreements will allow for oil and gas exploration in Libyan waters and come three years after the two countries signed a maritime border deal, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said after signing the MoU in Tripoli.
The EU last week said the deal infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states and doesn’t comply with the United Nations Law of the Sea.
The Greek Foreign Ministry has said in a statement that it is following developments in Libya very closely, “especially the signing of a ‘memorandum of cooperation between the Libyan GNU and Turkey in the field of hydrocarbons. “
The Egypt-Greece statement added that Greece “holds sovereign rights in the area, which it intends to defend by all legal means, in full respect to the International Law of the Sea.”
Libya, home to Africa’s largest crude oil reserves and a member of OPEC, has largely been wracked by chaos since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011