They said that the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom’s chief executive Dr Alexey Miller met with Israel’s National Infrastructure Minister Yosef Paritzky recently, and the plan was discussed during the meeting. Completed at the end of 2002, the ambitious Blue Stream pipeline runs from Russia to Turkey under the Black Sea. “Cooperation with Gazprom will take Israel out of its status as an isolated state in the energy field, and allow a connection to European energy networks,” Israel’s Infrastructure Ministry said in a statement. “This will radically change the Israeli energy sector.” Minister Paritzky has been actively pushing for increased natural gas usage in Israel, lessening its dependence on other fuels; the country’s natural gas demand has been estimated at around 180bn cum over the next 20-year period. Late in May, on a state visit to Turkey, Paritzky said Turkey and Israel were looking at building a subsea corridor to pipe in electricity, natural gas, and crude oil between the countries. The ministry said in the statement that it was discussing with Gazprom the firm’s inclusion in the potential project. Turkey is a net oil importer, producing only small quantities, but it is a key crossroads for the transport of oil and gas from Russia, the Caspian region, and the Middle East. Blue Stream is the world’s deepest pipeline, and was planned more than a decade ago, when Turkey was booming and seeing huge growth in gas use. But the Turkish economic recession at the end on the 1990s and an associated drop in gas consumption put some doubt over supply plans that underpinned the project’s viability. Also, political analyst said recent tensions between Turkey and Israel may delay possible progress in the project. Turkish officials said on 8 June that Turkey had called its two top diplomats in Israel back to Ankara for “consultations”, but played down the move, saying they would return to their posts on 10 June. “We are making consultations. After (Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon’s decision to pull out of Gaza there is now a new situation and we would look at how this can help the ‘road map’ (for peace),” a senior Turkish diplomatic source told reporters. The two diplomats are Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioglu and Jersualem Consul General Huseyin Bicakli. Predominantly Muslim, Turkey is the only country in the Middle East which has close security and diplomatic ties with Israel, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been critical of Israel’s tough policies against the Palestinians in Gaza.