Exporting natural gas to Jordan, first stage of a pan-Arab venture

Egyptian-Jordanian talks started Monday over technical and economic cooperation in the fields of petroleum and natural gas cochaired by Prime Minister Atef Ebeid and his Jordanian opposite number Ali Abul -Ragheb.

Talks touched on a project to export Egyptian natural gas to Jordan as a first stage of a venture to export gas to Arab Mashreq countries, including Syria, Lebanon and Turkey.

The first stage involves extending a 250-kilometer ground pipeline from Arish to Taba and then a 13-kilometre maritime pipeline to the Jordanian port of Aqaba.

Financed by the Arab fund for Socio-Economic Development and the Kuwaiti Development Fund, the pipeline's capacity hits 1 billion cubic metres daily and depends on natural gas discovered in the Mediterranean offshore fields.

Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi and Jordanian Minister of Industry and Energy Mohamed AL Batniya held a press conference in which the Jordanian Minister described the project to export Egyptian gas to Jordan as a step on the road of establishing the aspired Arab common market in the field of energy.

He also hailed the project of power linkage stations between Arable Mashreq and Arab Maghreb countries.