Egyptian natural gas exports to
Israel
and
Jordan
may be halted for as long as two weeks after an explosion damaged a pipeline in
the
Sinai
Desert
yesterday, Egyptian Oil Minister Sameh Fahmytold state television.
The incident at El Arish in the
northeastern Sinai was an act of “terror” carried out by “foreign hands,” state
TV said, while the Oil Ministry said a gas leak caused the blast. It may take
one to two weeks to repair the pipeline, Fahmy told state TV.
Ampal-American
Israel
Corp. and Merhav Group of Companies, the Israeli partners in East
Mediterranean Gas Co., which operates the section to
Israel
, said the pipeline from El-Arish to
Ashkelon
is intact, and wasn’t
damaged. The supply to
Israel
has been interrupted by a fire in a facility not related to EMG and is expected
to resume within a week, Ampal said today.
The disruption to the pipeline has political and symbolic ramifications
beyond the impact on fuel supplies to
Egypt
’s neighbors, particularly for
Israel
. President
Hosni
Mubarak
’s 30-year rule has been shaken by
almost two weeks of popular demonstrations, prompting questions about what
political orientation a successor government might have.
Mubarak has warned that an early departure for him would leave
Egypt
, the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with
Israel
in 1979, in chaos.
Israel
’s
Electricity
Israel
’s
Ministry of National Infrastructure said in a statement yesterday that it
doesn’t foresee any interruptions to the country’s electricity supply. About 16
percent of the electricity produced by Israel Electric Corp., the country’s
power monopoly, is derived from gas imported from
Egypt
, the company’s spokeswoman said. About 40 percent of
Israel
gas consumption comes from
Egypt
.
“
Israel
is prepared for such situations and has the possibility of immediately
switching to alternative energy sources,”
Israel
’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting today. “Due
to these advance preparations, no problems are expected in the supply of gas to
the State of Israel.”
Billionaire Isaac Tshuva’sDelek Energy Systems Ltd.,Ratio Oil Exploration 1992 LPand Avner Oil Exploration-LP are
energy- related stocks that have found gas fields off Israeli waters. Delek
Energy jumped 5.8 percent to 1,409 shekels as of 2:09 p.m. inTel Aviv, Avner gained
4.3 percent to 2.47 shekels and Delek Group rose 4.4 percent to 871.30 shekels.
Ampal-American
Israel
Corp., based in Herzliya, is
Israel
’s biggest supplier of natural gas. Its shares dropped as much as 8.2
percent and recovered to trade 0.5 percent higher at 7.555 shekels, bringing
the decline to 22 percent since Jan. 27.
Jordan
,
Israel
The Sinai incident occurred on a part of the natural-gas network before
it divides into branches serving
Jordan
and
Israel
, Marwan Bqaeen, head of the natural-gas unit at the Jordanian Energy
Ministry, said in a telephone interview. Egyptian gas exports to
Jordan
may be halted for about a week,
Petra
news agency reported yesterday, citing Ghaleb al-Maabira, general director of
Jordan
’s state electricity company.
Egypt
has halted gas supplies “as a safety precaution,” and
Jordan
has “resorted to back-up fuel,” Bqaeen said.
Egypt
has natural-gas reserves of 77 trillion cubic feet (2.18 trillion cubic
meters) and is the main producer of the hydrocarbon in the eastern
Mediterranean
, according to the
U.S. Energy Department. The country exported 650 billion cubic feet of gas in
2009, 30 percent by either the Arabgas pipelineto
Jordan
,
Syria
and
Lebanon
, or to
Israel
through the El-Arish-
Ashkelon
line, according to the
U.S.
department’s figures.
The line to
Israel
has operated since 2008 and can supply up to 7 billion cubic meters a
year, according to
Israel
’s
Department of Natural Infrastructure.
Israel
imported 60 billion cubic feet of gas in 2009, U.S. Energy Department data
show.
Egypt
supplies
Israel
with gas under a 15-year contract and is likely to eventually deliver almost 1
trillion cubic feet.
Israel
imports about 85 percent of its energy.
Gas Reserves
Israeli National Infrastructure Minister
Uzi Landau said Feb. 1 that events in
Egypt
should heighten concern over the supply of natural gas to
Israel
, and the country should move quickly to develop its own gas reserves.
The disruption in gas supplies from
Egypt
to
Israel
may result in an increase of 10 percent to 20 percent in electricity prices,
Israel Electric Corp. Deputy Chief Executive Officer Moshe Bachar told
Israel
’s Army Radio today.
Jordan, which imports almost all its energy supplies, aims to increase
imports of Egyptian gas for use in itspower plantsto
330 million cubic meters in 2011, from 240 million cubic meters last year, then
Energy Minister Khalid Irani said in an interview on July 14.
Syria
imported 679 million cubic meters from
Egypt
in 2010, making up about 8 percent of the country’s needs, according to
government figures. The country doesn’t expect any disruption in its power
supply as it can switch to alternative fuels, Al-Watan said today, citing Oil
Minister Sufian Alao.