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Egypt making ‘huge fortune’ selling Israeli gas to Europe, media says

December 13, 2022 at 11:22 am

Pipelines [Robin Drayton/Wikipedia]

Israeli media outlets have criticised the “huge fortune” accumulated by Egypt from exporting Israeli natural gas to Europe at a price that is at least three times higher than the price it pays the occupation state.

The Israeli economic website Biz Portal said Cairo is liquefying Israeli gas and sending tankers to Europe, at a time when the Russian war on Ukraine has limited the region’s access to energy and caused prices to spiral.

“Egyptian profits from Israeli gas, which it imports annually, amount to about $3.5 billion, which is like breathing air for their collapsed [Egyptian] economy, and constitutes more than 10 percent of their foreign currency reserves,” the site said, noting that Israeli gas companies earn good profits, but relatively less than the Egyptian profit.

The Hebrew website explained that the reason for this is that the price of gas exported to Egypt was set at the end of 2019, when prices were at their lowest levels, but Egypt now sells Israeli gas at market prices that have peaked in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine war.

According to the site, the Egyptian annual profit from Israeli gas could reach $5 billion by 2023.

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