Cyprus, Greece, Italy, and Israel have signed up to a gas pipeline that would reduce EU dependency on Russia.
The EastMed pipeline is to ship up to 16 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year from the Levantine Basin near Israel and Cyprus to Greece and Italy from 2025.
That amounts to just 5 percent of EU annual consumption, but it would offset the 100 bcm a year that the EU buys from Russia.
It could also pave the way for further investments in the gas-rich Middle East.
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.