A collaboration for storing and transferring of oil and oil products through the EAPC pipeline network and storage tanks, from the UAE and other Eastern markets to the Western markets, and from the Mediterranean to the Far East, has been struck by Israeli state-owned company Europe-Asia Pipeline Company (EAPC) and MED-RED Land Bridge Ltd (MRLB).
The two companies have signed a binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) to form the alliance. The signing ceremony in Abu Dhabi concluded several weeks of negotiations among the parties to create one of the first public-private-partnerships between an Israeli state-owned company and a joint venture with a UAE based company, since the signing of the Abraham accords in August.
MRLB is a joint venture (JV) between Petromal, an integrated oil and gas company based in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Lubber Line, an international company owned by Yariv Elbaz, which specialises in investment in international projects in the infrastructure and energy sectors; and AF Entrepreneurship, an Israeli company owned by Yona Fogel and Malachi Alper, which develops and operates projects and ventures in the energy sector.
The collaboration is significant news for the global energy market, as it offers oil producers and refiners a short and cost-effective route to transport oil and oil products from the Arabian Gulf to the consumption centres in the West, and provides access for consumers in the Far East to oil produced in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. MED-RED is in negotiations with major players in the West and in the East for long-term service agreements.
Erez Halfon, EAPC chairman, said: “This is a historic agreement, which further broadens EAPC’s international collaborations. There is no doubt that this agreement is of high importance to the Israeli market, both economically and strategically, with joint investments extending a decade into the future. I am thrilled about this collaboration with our friends from the UAE, our neighbours in the Middle East. This commercial agreement has clear geopolitical significance.”
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