The Ministry of Petroleum has started to increase the amount of gas exported to Jordan to nearly reach 100m cubic feet (cf) daily in order to provide the needs of electricity plans, compared to about 50m cf last year, and will gradually be increased to 250m cf daily over the upcoming summer months.
An official at the ministry of petroleum informed Daily News Egypt that Egypt resumed exporting natural gas to Jordan since September, thereby providing them with a part of the power plants’ needs.
He added that a new contract was signed with Jordan’s Ministry of Energy in order to renew the agreement to supply amounts of natural gas estimated to be 250m cf daily. The export capacity of the Jordan gas line is estimated to be 1bn cf daily.
The Egyptian government signed an agreement with Jordan in 2004 with a duration of 15 years to export 250m cf of gas daily, worth $2.5 per one million thermal units, except that the government increased the prices of gas in April 2012, reaching $5 per one million thermal units.
Tarek El Molla, the minister of petroleum, looked into the situation of the joint projects with his Jordanian counterpart Halah Zawaty. They also discussed the strategies that were put forward to provide and diversify the energy sources, especially natural gas.
The source also pointed out that the ministry completed signing the agreement with the Jordanian side with a contract to supply 250m cf of gas daily, with prices different from the ones in the past agreement.
He pointed out that Egypt resumed pumping gas to Jordan in September through a pipeline connecting Egypt and Jordan, thereby contributing to turning the country into a regional hub for providing energy after achieving gas self-sufficiency.
The agreement between Egypt and Jordan stipulates that 10% of the Jordanian natural gas required to operate electricity generation plants will be imported from Egypt.
The source pointed out that the ministry of petroleum is strengthening its efforts in cooperation with foreign partners to carry out projects in order to develop major gas explorations in the deep waters of the Mediterranean and the Nile Delta, therefore increasing gas production to 8bn cf daily by 2021.
