Egypt and Jordan on Wednesday signed an agreement amending the price of gas exported to Jordan. The deal was signed at the Petroleum Ministry in Cairo after the cabinets of the two countries approved the new prices.
The state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) said the new deal came within the framework of the petroleum sector’s recent efforts to review and amend gas export contracts in light of changes seen in global gas markets over the past year.
MENA did not disclose the agreed-upon price, but in a statement to the news agency, Egyptian Petroleum Minister Abdullah Ghorab said that new prices are in line with European indexes.
He went on to say that the new deal concerns prices until mid-2013, after which price reviews will take place every other year.
He added that the new price adjustments will be applied retroactively as of January 2011.
Meanwhile, Jordanian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Qutaiba Abu Korah said the signing represented the culmination of negotiations between the two countries.
A 2004 agreement stipulated that Egypt export 240 million cubic feet of gas to Jordan annually.
Jordan depends on Egyptian natural gas to generate 80 percent of its electricity needs. To cope with the recent suspension of Egyptian gas supplies, it had used diesel and heavy fuels to operate its power stations. This alternative procedure cost Jordan US$5 million daily.
The pipeline carrying gas to Israel and Jordan was bombed on Sunday, the tenth such attack this year, but no fire erupted because the line that runs through North Sinai had already disabled by an attack on 28 November.
No group has claimed responsibility for a series of pipeline attacks since a popular uprising toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in February.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
