Jordan continues to receive natural gas supplies from Egypt via the Arab Gas Pipeline despite the ongoing political turmoil in the North African state, an official at the Jordanian energy ministry said Tuesday.

"We are still receiving gas from Egypt at agreed quantities and on a daily basis," the official told Dow Jones Newswires.

The amounts of gas supplied to the kingdom from Egypt has began to rise since last December to reach "240 million cubic feet a day" and that level was preserved in January, Jordan's National Electricity Co. head Ghaleb Maabreh said in a separate statement posted in the company's web site.

He added that Jordan and Egypt also continue to exchange electricity via 500-megawatt cable running beneath the Red Sea , which also supplies power to Syria and Lebanon . Currently 60% of Jordan 's electricity is generated from natural gas, the bulk of which is imported from Egypt .

Jordan and Egypt signed an agreement in 2004 for the supply of 240 million cubic feet a day, or 2.48 billion cubic meters a year, of Egyptian gas at preferential price via the Arab Gas Pipeline, with the option of raising total supply by a further 900 million cubic meters a year.

The pipeline runs from Egypt to Jordan and extends to Syria and Lebanon .

Egypt agreed in October to resume exports of natural gas to Jordan to levels stipulated under the 2004 bilateral agreement after supplies dropped below the agreed volumes because of domestic gas shortages in Egypt , Jordan 's official news agency Petra reported at the time.

Jordan suffered power cuts last summer when it received below-average natural gas supplies from Egypt , which also suffered from high demand during the summer months.

The Jordanian energy ministry has plans to import gas from other countries in the region including Qatar to meet domestic demand. Jordan 's Prime Minister Samir Rafai discussed with Qatari officials in Doha during a recent visit the possibility of importing gas from the gas-rich Gulf Arab state.

The kingdom imports some 95% of its energy needs at a cost of around 19% of its gross domestic product.

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