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Israeli Natural Gas to Jordan?

(Ha'aretz) Gal Luft - Jordan has been deeply affected by the repeated explosions caused over the past year by saboteurs in Sinai on the natural-gas pipeline there. These disruptions, though most likely directed at Israel, another purchaser of Egyptian natural gas, cost the kingdom more than $1.7 billion per year in switching to more expensive fuels. Israel's recent discovery of vast reserves of natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean means it will soon be in a position to export gas to Jordan and thus boost economic relations. The construction of a pipeline connecting Israel and Jordan would be far less expensive and faster to build than any of the other proposals currently contemplated by Israel for marketing its gas. A joint ministerial committee tasked with forging a national natural-gas strategy by the end of February is torn between those who call to retain all the surplus gas at home for future domestic use, and those who wish to see Israel in the big league of world gas exporters. Between those two doctrines lies a middle ground: a relatively small market and an opportunity for Jordan and Israel to solidify their fragile peace. The writer is executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security in Washington.
2012-01-06 00:00:00
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