Page 9 - MEOG Week 40

MEOG POLICY MEOG

US brokering continues as Israel,

UAE agree energy co-operation

ISRAEL/UAE FOLLOWING the signing of a peace agreement being acquired by fellow American company
in September, the US, Israel and the UAE have Chevron in a multi-billion-dollar deal.
agreed an energy-focused co-operation deal. However, this comes amid a growing tide of
A joint statement was published by the US public opinion against fossil fuel development
Department of Energy (DoE) on October 1, and use, which has focused on pushing for the
which said that the countries “agree to encour- decommissioning of the Haifa refinery, which is
age greater co-ordination in the energy sector, now expected to occur within the next decade.
including renewable energy, energy efficiency, Speaking to Middle East Oil & Gas (MEOG),
oil, natural gas resources and related technolo- Amit Mor, CEO of Eco Energy. said that by 2030
gies, and water desalination technologies”. around two thirds of new cars in Israel will be
The DoE added: “Israel, the United Arab electric vehicles (EVs) as the country continues
Emirates and the United States are committed to its shift away from coal.
exploring collective activities in multilateral set- Mor said that domestic gas production had
tings in co-ordination with financial institutions changed Israel’s energy consumption makeup
and the private sector to enhance international from roughly 80% coal and 20% oil to around
investment in research and development and the 70% gas, with renewables providing a growing
rapid adoption of new energy technologies.” percentage. The government has a target of pro-
The UAE has an ambitious target of increas- ducing 16 GW by 2030, catering to around 30%
ing oil production capacity from the current by 2030.
level of 4mn barrels per day to 5mn bpd by 2030, For its part, the UAE is increasingly turning
while total liquids production is 2.43mn bpd. its attention to alternative energy, with energy
The Emirates are also investing heavily to boost minister Suhail al-Mazrouei saying on Septem-
gas output. ber 14 that the country intends to generate 44%
Meanwhile, Israel saw its Leviathan gas field of its power from renewable energy by 2050.
come on stream at the turn of the year and vari- Following the start-up of the first reactor at the
ous international and local firms are building out country’s new nuclear facility this year, around
the country’s gas sector. US firm Noble Energy 25% of its power demand will be met by nuclear
has played a pivotal role in developing the coun- once the remaining three reactors expand capac-
try’s gas fields, and the firm is in the midst of ity to 5.6 GW.™

Iran warns Armenia and

Azerbaijan over border

IRAN SAEED Khatibzadeh, Iran’s Foreign Ministry a centre of threat against our national security.”
Spokesman has warned Armenia and Azerbai- He went on to add the transfer of the conflicts to
jan not to allow their conflict to fester into a new the Caucasus will lead to catastrophes far greater
hotbed of terrorism on the Islamic Republic’s than the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for the
border, Khabaronline reported on October 1. region. Turkey, which is supporting Azerbaijan’s
A week of fighting between the two southern efforts to retake the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh
Caucasus foes has seen bullets, soldiers and hel- region has also allegedly been funnelling fighters
icopters spill over the border, while Azeris living from other war zones including Syria and Libya
in Iran have become more vocal about their sup- to the Caucasus.
port of their ethnic brethren to the north. Vardan Toganyan, Armenia’s Ambassador to
In response to a reporter’s question on Russia, as said on September 29 Ankara had sent
importing fighters from Syria including Kurdish some 4,000 fighters from northern Syria.
PKK militia on behalf of Armenia and Azerbai- However, Azerbaijan swiftly denied this was
jan as well as Syrian-Armenian fighters fighting the case, with the assistant to Azerbaijan’s Presi-
for Yerevan, Khatibzadeh neither confirmed nor dent Ilham Aliyev saying: “Rumours of militants
denied if it was happening. from Syria allegedly being redeployed to Azer-
He added: “The Islamic Republic of Iran will baijan is another provocation by the Armenian
not allow terrorist groups in the areas adjacent to side and complete nonsense,” said Khikmet
the northern borders of our country to become Gadzhiev.™

Week 40 07•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9