Israel wants to buy 2 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas a year delivered through a pipeline extended from Turkey.
“Israel plans to buy 2 billion cubic meters of Russia's gas,” National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said, according to ITAR-Tass.
The minister, who met with the head of the state Russian gas monopoly OAO Gazprom in Moscow, said that Israel in the long-term could import up to 5 billion cubic meters a year from Russia.
Last month, Turkey and Russia agreed on extending a pipeline to transmit Russian natural gas to Israel. This project of pipelines would deliver oil, natural gas and water from Turkey to Israel.
Michael Brodsky, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Moscow, said this would take at least five years to complete the gas pipeline extension before Russian gas deliveries to Israel were possible.