The leaders of Israel, Greece and Cyprus pledged on Monday to expand energy cooperation and explore ways to bring gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe and connect their power grids, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

Huge gas deposits have been discovered in the eastern Mediterranean over the past decade, mostly off the coasts of Israel and Egypt, with interest growing after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affected flows to Europe.

“Soon we will have to decide how Israel will export its gas, and Cyprus will have to make the same decision. We are analyzing the possibility of cooperation in this segment,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters in Nicosia after a tripartite summit with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Cypriot President Nicos Christodoulides.

“These decisions will be made, I think, in the next three to six months, maybe closer to three months,” the Israeli official added.

This year, Cyprus proposed to transport the gas by building a pipeline that would connect an Israeli gas field in the eastern Mediterranean to a liquefaction facility in Cyprus, from where it could be transported to Europe.

“We agreed that natural gas and renewable energy are the primary basis of cooperation in the region, especially against the background of recent geopolitical events. Especially in Europe, energy diversification and strengthening of interconnection are necessary,” said Christodoulides.

Netanyahu explained that Israel wants to be part of the planned undersea electric cable project – the EuroAsia Interconnector – with the support of the EU. It would transport up to 2,000 megawatts of electricity to the grids of Israel, Greece and Cyprus.