Sharon agrees to buy the Palestinian gas

The British news bulletin specialized in energy affairs ( International Oil daily) said on Monday that the chairman of the Israeli government Ariel Sharon " has initially agreed to buy gas from Gaza" after negotiations were stopped between Israel and Egypt to provide the occupied territories wit gas.

The British " British gas" company discovered together with the Arab "CCC" company gas fields in Gaza in 1999, according to a licensing given by the Palestinian authority. The magazine also noted Gaza's decreased needs for Gas, noting that this will result in selling, more expectedly more amounts of gas to Israel.

The bulletin noted that the field's reserves is estimated at 40 billion cubic meters, and that Israel in the year 2001 chose Israeli and Egyptian companies to provide it by 7.1 billion cubic meters of Egyptian gas annually. However, negotiations stopped after the deterioration of conditions in the Palestinian territories.