Egypt delays repairing natural gas pipeline to Jordan - Official - Zaway

Posted - Wednesday, Jul 24, 2013 - By Summer Said - Zaway (Dow Jones Newswires)


Egypt is waiting to repair its bomb-damaged natural gas pipeline to Jordan until security in the Sinai Peninsula improves, the chairman of the state-run Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co., or EGAS , said Wednesday.

No gas has flowed to Jordan through the pipeline since unidentified militants attacked it with explosives in the Sinai town of El Arish on July 7.
"The technical team is ready to start the repair works at any time but we are waiting until the security situation in the area improves," Taher Abdel Reheem told Dow Jones Newswires.

"We don't want to start repairing the pipeline if we cannot guarantee the safety of the team. At the moment security forces are working to secure the area where the pipeline was attacked," he said. Mr. Abdel Reheem added that it was difficult to predict when the repairs would start.

Initial evaluation showed that the explosions, which caused no casualties, damaged about 12 kilometers of the 36-inch pipeline, through which about 100 million cubic feet of gas a day is transported to Jordanian power plants. EGAS said in a statement after the attack, which followed militant strikes on a regional airport and security checkpoints in the Sinai Peninsula, that gas supplies to Jordan will resume within 10 days.
The gas pipeline has been attacked 16 times since early 2011 when an uprising forced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resign.
The latest attack, the first since July last year, comes after the elected president Mohammed Morsi--who has the support of the Muslim Brotherhood--was ousted by the country's military after just one year in office.
The Egyptian army has already declared a state of emergency in areas bordering the Suez shipping route after a militant attack on a regional airport triggered fears of oil disruptions and pushed crude prices higher.
 

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