Egyptian natural gas to Jordan to be resumed

CAIRO – 5 April 2019: Egypt and Jordan have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), per which Jordan will resume purchasing and selling natural gas between the two countries after a long halt.

Tarek al-Mala, Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and his Jordanian counterpart, Hala el Zawati signed Sunday a set of agreements and memorandums of understanding with Jordan. As per to the signed agreement, Egyptian gas supplies will increase to cover 50 percent of Jordan’s natural gas needs instead of only 10 percent in 2018.

Following Revolution of 2011, the Egyptian-Jordanian gas pipeline in Sinai has been repeatedly ruptured, causing dangerous harm for the two sides.

The Jordan Kingdom’s need for natural gas is estimated at about 300 million cubic feet per day to generate electricity.
The signed agreements organize the natural gas selling and purchasing cycle between the two countries, in terms of operating the pipelines and networks of natural gas.

“The agreements with Jordan come in line with the strategic cooperation between the two countries in the fields of oil, gas and energy”, El Molla said after the signing.

“Resumption of natural gas to Jordan will reduce the cost of the energy bill in Jordan, which has been a burden on the budget of the Kingdom,” said Hala el-Zwati.

Egypt has supplied Jordan with around 250 million cubic feet of gas per day since 2014, but these quantities have declined since the end of 2009 and have been suspended since 2011.

After the interruption of the Egyptian gas, Jordan imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) through the port of Al-Sheih in Sabah in Aqaba since mid-2015.

Jordanian power plants are supplied with Egyptian natural gas through the Arab gas pipeline, which runs from the south of El Arish in northern Sinai to Jordan.