By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A plan to pipe oil and gas from Turkey to Israel and then ship it to India will be discussed when officials from the three countries meet soon, media reports said Tuesday.
The proposal would allow India easier access to energy supplies from Central Asia and the Caspian region, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying.
The proposed route comes after a long-planned pipeline that would have linked India to Iran through Pakistan failed to materialize, held up by disagreements over costs, Indian fears about the pipeline's security, and strong US opposition.
The planned pipeline would run from the Caspian region to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. From there a pipeline would run to Israel's Eilat port on the Red Sea.
Shipping the crude and gas from Eilat would allow Indian tankers to avoid the Suez Canal.