Israel and Egypt signed an energy Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the European Union in June 2022 as part of the EU’s quest to find alternative gas to the Russian one, following the war in Ukraine. Many other countries in the Eastern Mediterranean such as Cyprus, Lebanon and Turkey are hoping to benefit from the EU’s need for an alternative source. Laury Haytayan identifies energy developments in the East Mediterranean spurred by the Russian-Ukraine war and assesses the potential of these projects; which are political and which are commercially viable and could support the EU’s quest.

Laury Haytayan is the MENA director at the Institute of Natural Resources Governance. Prior to becoming the director, Laury was the MENA senior officer in charge of the media and parliamentary capacity building programs. Previously, she had been executive director of the Arab Region Parliamentarians Against Corruption, an organisation based in Beirut, and she was invited by the Carter Institute to supervise the first Tunisian elections in 2011. As an expert in energy politics in the MENA region, Haytayan published several articles such as: “What to expect as the east Med responds to Europe’s Hunger for gas” (2022), “Middle East and North Africa National Oil Companies face crossroads” (2020); and the book Lebanon is becoming a new oil and gas producer under watchful eyes of its society, 2017.

Co-organised by the IEMed as part of the Aula Mediterrània 2022-23 programme in collaboration with IBEI Master’s in International Relations.

The inter-university programme Aula Mediterrània aims to foster studies on the Mediterranean with an as wide and interdisciplinary perspective as possible. It is the result of the collaboration between the IEMed and the academic world, including IBEI.

In the academic year 2022-23, the programme celebrates its ninth edition. International experts from various professional backgrounds will address key issues of the Mediterranean and international agenda. For instance, the management of energy resources, the global governance of the environment, border management, sectarianism in the Middle East, the political situation of countries such as Sudan or Iran, or the growing Chinese influence in the Maghreb.

We strongly recommend our students to take part in this programme in order to broaden their knowledge in the MENA region. Check the programme