The number of oil tankers docking at the Europe-Asia Pipeline Company’s oil terminal on the Gulf of Eilat has jumped sharply in the past two years, according to open data analysis, monitoring by environmental activists, and Knesset documents. The number of oil tankers, some of which run the length of about three soccer fields, was five times higher in 2021 and 2022 than the average in the preceding decade.
The number of tankers docking at the terminal has increased even further this year. An investigation by Haaretz has found that the 12 oil tankers that docked in Eilat in the past year arrived empty, loaded cargo, and continued onward – mostly to China. EAPC is now at the upper limit of activity at the facility allowed under the terms of its license to handle hazardous materials – and wants more.
The growth in tanker traffic means the amount of oil passing through the Gulf of Eilat, on which Eilat lies, has increased correspondingly. As a result, so has the environmental risk posed to the Gulf and the economy of Israel’s southernmost city in the event of a major accident.
EAPC is pressing to further increase the amount of oil it is allowed to transport through Eilat as it seeks to implement an agreement it signed with a company from the United Arab Emirates. EAPC operates a system of underground pipelines between Ashkelon and Eilat. These allow the company to rapidly transfer crude oil from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and on to East Asia.
The shipments passing through Eilat are subject to restrictions imposed by the Environmental Protection Ministry, which supervises the use and handling of hazardous materials. Throughout the years, EAPC has remained well below the upper threshold allowed under its license’s terms, allowing it to ship up to 2 million tons of oil through Eilat annually. However, the sharp increase in activity at the terminal in recent years has brought EAPC to the upper limit.
Prime Minister’s Office Director Yossi Shelley and the National Security Council had been due to hold a meeting on the situation two weeks ago, on the same day Israel commenced a military operation in Jenin in the West Bank, and the meeting was postponed at the last minute. The energy and finance ministries support expanding the amount of oil the company can ship through Eilat. Sources said they believe that at the meeting, the Environmental Protection Ministry was about to be pressured to expand EAPC’s license and double the amount of oil it can transport.
The inevitable consequence of such a move would be an increased risk to the Gulf and its ecosystem, as well as Eilat’s tourism-based economy. Environmental Protection Ministry officials, scientists, and environmental activists strongly oppose the move. Additionally, the scientific consensus is that gas, oil, and coal must be phased out as quickly as possible to curb the climate crisis.
EAPC claims that the current policy restricting the expansion of its activities “will without doubt harm Israel’s energy security,” and that some of the oil that passes through Eilat as part of the agreement with the UAE may also be used by the local economy.
According to the company, in its current form, the license “casts doubt on its ability to supply crude oil to refineries in Haifa and Ashdod, and supplies could be affected within months.” However, the oil that passed through Eilat last year was not consumed in Israel, but rather sent to East Asia.
Haaretz asked EAPC to clarify how restricting oil transportation out of Israel affects the local energy sector, but the company did not provide details. A recent example of oil transportation out of Israel came last month when the NISSOS KEA tanker docked in Eilat. The tanker arrived empty, picked up oil, and then went to another country.
Tanker cargo and unloading records are on MarineTraffic, a global shipping-tracking website. It’s also possible to tell whether a tanker is empty or loaded by observing it in the water – because of its lower weight, an empty tanker will be higher above the waterline, and more of its body will be visible.
An examination of open-source ship traffic records shows that many of the tankers that load crude at EAPC’s terminal in Eilat unload it in China and Taiwan. Of the seven oil tankers that have docked in Israel this year, at least five unloaded their cargo in China. According to environmental activists who monitor tankers, all tankers that have docked at the terminal since the beginning of last year have arrived empty and loaded oil that was sent to other countries. The increase in the number of tankers anchored at the EAPC terminal was first reported by Dror Gorni on the independent news site Shakuf.
The steep increase in tankers docking in Eilat commenced after EAPC signed a secret agreement with Med-Red Land Bridge, a company owned by business people in the UAE and Israel. The oil company has confirmed that the agreement with Med-Red is already being partially implemented. Because of confidentiality imposed by the state on the project, and EAPC’s activities in general, it’s impossible to determine whether all the tankers that have docked in Eilat did so as part of the Med-Red agreement or other business activities.
The agreement’s apparent purpose is to use EAPC pipelines as a land-based oil bridge connecting east and west, thus bypassing the Suez Canal without circumnavigating the entire African continent. According to the agreement, some tankers are supposed to arrive in Eilat and unload oil that will flow through a pipeline to Ashkelon, to be loaded there onto tankers sailing west. Oil also flows through the pipeline in the other direction, with tankers docking in Ashkelon to unload oil that’s then pumped to Eilat; from there, it’s loaded onto tankers to be transported to East Asia.
Environmental Protection Ministry officials looked into the implications of the Med-Red agreement after it was signed in late 2020. Then-Minister Tamar Zandberg declared a “zero additional risk” policy for the Gulf of Eilat – meaning that EAPC’s license would not be expanded. Environmental Protection Ministry officials still support this position, which current Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman shares.
The practical consequence of the ministry’s support is keeping the cap on the amount of oil EAPC is allowed to transport through Eilat at two million tons a year. The company has appealed the decision in court, but the limit remains unchanged. Following this dispute between the Environmental Protection Ministry and EAPC, the government established a committee to discuss the issue. In recent months, EAPC has been pressuring this committee to accept its position.
The Environmental Protection Ministry has a particularly key role, as tracking of the movement of tankers is entrusted to its pollution monitoring station in Eilat. Just as the number of tankers arriving in Eilat is increasing and EAPC is pushing to expand operations, the ministry is warning that the monitoring station suffers from a severe shortage of personnel and equipment. It has called the situation “critical.”
The station’s limited workforce is fully mobilized to monitor every tanker that docks at the terminal. Ministry officials warn that treating even a relatively small-scale spill, which can still cause significant damage, will be a major challenge because of a lack of equipment.
Yuval Arbel is a member of the Zalul Environmental Association, among the environmental organizations campaigning against expanding EAPC’s license to transport oil. He warns that “a disaster in the Gulf of Eilat is only a matter of time.” Meanwhile, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel says EAPC’s interests “contradict the public interest of preserving nature, the environment, and air quality.”
These warnings are particularly relevant in light of the tar pollution that washed up the Mediterranean coast two years ago – an incident caused by a leak from an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea. The damage highlighted the country’s lack of preparedness for significant oil spills.
Following that incident, a government committee was established that recommended that the Finance Ministry increase the personnel allocated to the Environmental Protection Ministry Marine Environment Protection Unit. The division, however, has yet to receive personnel allocations and equipment. The Finance Ministry claims that it has assisted the Environmental Protection Ministry, but this statement, repeated over the years again and again, is denied by Environmental Protection Ministry officials.
In a recent report, the state comptroller noted that although the Environmental Protection Ministry has seen its areas of responsibility increase considerably over the years, the number of personnel at its disposal has remained more or less the same.
EAPC has a history of accidents and is responsible for two of the worst environmental disasters in Israel’s history: the Nahal Zin fuel leak in 2011 and the extensive oil spill in the Evrona Nature Reserve in the southern Arava area in 2014. It’s also had a long series of more minor leaks. Despite the extensive damage, the penalties imposed on the company in the wake of these incidents were negligible relative to the scale of its activities. The confidentiality imposed on EAPC’s activities makes it difficult to supervise the company.
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