Abstract

The Eastern Mediterranean offers vast opportunities for natural gas development. There are currently many actors on the stage driving and affecting East Med energy and geopolitics including Israel, Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Lebanon as well as the US and the EU. An unexpected new player in the region is Russia. With a politically unstable area, issues that cannot be solved in the short term (migration is an example) and close to war zones, Turkey aims not just to be a customer but a conveyor of regional integration. It is high time to establish an Eastern Mediterranean Energy Community (EMEC).