A senior US diplomat said that Europe needs to quickly find alternative sources of energy after the Russian war on Ukraine, but the proposed pipeline to transport gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe via Israel, Cyprus and Greece does not work.
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland added, "The idea is to build a very long pipeline in very deep water over a period of more than 10 years, which we believe is very expensive, uneconomic and would take a very long time."
"Frankly, we don't have 10 years," Nuland told reporters in the Cypriot capital, Nicosia.
And increased focus on Europe's need to diversify its gas sources away from Russia because of Moscow's war on Ukraine.
The European Union plans to reduce its dependence on Russian gas by two thirds this year and end all imports of Russian fuel by 2027.
Cyprus, Israel and Greece were considering building a pipeline linking gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean to Europe, but the project faltered after the United States withdrew its political support for the project in January.
The three countries are expected to make a decision this year on the feasibility of the $6 billion EastMed pipeline.