In geopolitical terms, this will be immense; when the planned Israel-Cyprus-Greece-Italy gas pipeline is built, European countries will be able to cut their ever-increasing dependence on Russian gas supplies.

The story of major gas discoveries in the East Mediterranean started in the shallow-water offshore Egypt, with Miocene Nile Delta discoveries progressively stepping out into deeper and deeper water. The first discovery was made by Phillips Petroleum in 1969, when it drilled the play-opening Abu Qir 1 NFW. It discovered gas in the Messinian Abu Madi sandstones. Subsequent exploration was led by the likes of AMOCO, BG, BP, Eni and Shell. There are now over 100 mainly gas and wet gas fields in the offshore Egyptian Nile Delta, with all production being piped onshore. The story continues to the present day, with recent large discoveries in the deeper Oligocene play, such as Salamat (2013) and Atoll (2015), alongside large Messinian discoveries including Nooros (2015) and Baltim South West (2016).