Israel Freezes UAE Oil Deal Over Environmental Reasons | Business and Economy News

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The environmental protection ministry said the risk assessment “did not meet the conditions” stipulated by the ministry.

Israel’s environmental protection ministry has announced its decision to delay implementation of a draft oil transport deal with the United Arab Emirates, freezing a project that has angered environmentalists.

The deal, which followed the establishment of diplomatic ties between the UAE and Israel last year, would see Gulf oil shipped by tanker to the Red Sea port of Eilat, then piped through Israel. mainland to the Mediterranean port of Ashkelon, from where it would be shipped. in Europe.

The oil deal, involving the Israeli state-owned Europe-Asia Pipeline Company (EAPC) and an Israeli-UAE company called MED-RED Land Bridge Ltd, has not been launched.

But activists have sounded the alarm bells on potential threats to corals in the northern Red Sea off the coast of Eilat.

Israeli environmental organizations have challenged the plan in court, citing the risks of a devastating leak or spill, with tens of millions of tonnes of crude expected to pass through Israel each year.

Risk assessment

The EAPC submitted its response to the court last week, providing a risk assessment in which it said the risk from the increased flow of crude was minimal.

But on Sunday, Israel’s environmental protection ministry said the risk assessment “did not meet the conditions” stipulated by the ministry, and was therefore invalid.

The ministry told the EAPC in a letter that it was “delaying the assessment of your preparations to increase activity in the port of Eilat, until the government has a discussion and takes a decision” on the project.

The decision to freeze the implementation of the deal was taken by the recently sworn-in Minister of Environmental Protection Tamar Zandberg of the left-wing Meretz party, who openly opposed the EAPC-Emirati deal. .

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government, whose ideologically diverse coalition was sworn in last month, said his office had “asked the court for an extension of time to respond to petition filed by environmental organizations “.

An EAPC spokeswoman made no comment.

Campaigners argue that the deal has escaped rigorous regulatory scrutiny due to EAPC’s status as a state-owned enterprise working in the sensitive energy sector.

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