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Egypt Halts Gas Supply to Israel

[Ha'aretz] Avi Bar-Eli - Egypt halted the supply of natural gas to Israel on Friday, most of which is used by the Israel Electric Corporation. In 2006 the Egyptian-Israeli consortium EMG began laying a 100-kilometer undersea pipeline to bring the gas from El-Arish in Egypt to Ashkelon, at a cost of $470 million. Gas began to flow on May 1, 2008, but only about a third of the promised amount has been forthcoming. Meanwhile, opposition has been rising in Egypt, partially against the sale of gas to Israel, but mainly against the relatively low price set in the contract. Sources in Israel's energy market say that Egypt simply doesn't have the production capacity to supply its own consumption of gas and its contractual obligations to clients. Israel's National Infrastructures Ministry said, "We have no doubt that Egypt will stand by the agreement it signed with the government in Israel....The ministry is in constant contact with government officials in Cairo and in parallel is making great effort to assure additional sources of gas, including Russia and Azerbaijan."
2008-09-03 01:00:00
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