The Egyptian government said yesterday that it is not a party in the gas conflict with Israel.
In a press release, Cabinet spokesman Hossam Al-Qawish said that the Egyptian government is not a party in the conflict between the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and the Egyptian Holding Company for Natural Gas – owned by the Ministry of Petroleum – on the one hand and Israel Electricity Corporation and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea Gas on the other hand.
He noted that the procedures of appealing the verdict for the Egyptian side to pay a fine for stopping to supply Israel with gas will be undertaken by the two companies as well as the Sherman and Sterling law firm as the entities concerned with issues relating to commercial courts.
On Sunday, the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum announced that it will appeal the verdict issued by the Geneva-based International Chamber of Commerce, which requires it to pay a penalty of $1.7 billion of the $3.8 billion demanded by the Israel Electric Corporation, and $288 million of the $1.5 billion demanded by the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (owned by Egyptian businessmen and Israeli investors), due to the halt of supply of Egyptian natural gas to Israel following the revolution of 25 January 2011.