国际英语新闻:Greece, Cyprus, Israel sign EastMed gas pipeline agreement

ATHENS, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Greece, Cyprus, and Israel signed here on Thursday an intergovernmental agreement for the construction of the Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) natural gas pipeline which is to be linking the region's gas reserves to Greece and the rest of Europe.

The energy ministers of the three countries signed the agreement in a ceremony held at Zappeion exhibition hall in the presence of the prime ministers of Greece and Israel, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Benjamin Netanyahu, and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

The pipeline is scheduled to run across the Mediterranean Sea from the gas reserves off Israel to Crete island, western Greece and then to Italy.

Italy is expected to sign the agreement at a later stage, the Greek government has said.

The EastMed pipeline will be 1,872 km long with an initial annual capacity of 10 billion cubic meters (bcm), which is expandable to 20bcm in maximum. The budget for the 10 billion bcm is 5.2 billion euros (5.8 billion U.S. dollars), according to a Greek Environment and Energy Ministry press release.

The project, backed by the European Union and the U.S., aims to help diversify Europe's energy sources, the three sides said. (1 euro= 1.12 U.S. dollars)