Israel's Europe-Asia Pipeline Co. (EAPC) signed an agreement with a UAE-based company to transport oil from the Gulf state and Eastern markets to the West and back. According to EAPC, the agreement "offers oil producers and refiners the shortest most efficient and cost-effective route to transport oil and oil products from the Arabian Gulf to the consumption centers in the West, and provides access for consumers in the Far East to oil produced in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions.”