Israel to send gas to Egypt via Jordan

Companies developing Israel’s natural gas reservoir are discussing a new route to export gas to Egypt through Jordan, Blomberg reported on Friday.

“Israel’s Delek Group Ltd. and Houston-based Noble Energy Inc., the major stakeholders in the Leviathan gas field, are in talks to sell about 3 billion cubic meters a year to Egypt’s Dolphinus Holdings Ltd., according to Dolphinus’s co-founder, Alaa Arafa,” the news site reported.

“There is great potential for the Mediterranean to be a gas hub for the region and we want to be partners with Israel in this,” Arafa told Bloomberg.

According to Bloomberg, the gas would reach Egypt through Jordan instead of a direct pipeline through Egypt’s Sinai that has been inactive for years, Israeli sources said.

The Sinai pipeline is in the middle of a dispute between Egypt and Israel in which Cairo has been ordered to pay hefty fines after it cancelled an earlier contract under which it supplied gas to Israel through a frequently sabotaged pipeline.

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