600,000 tons natural gas to be exported through Arish-Aqaba pipeline

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah II of Jordan will open on Sunday the Arab gas pipeline which links the Egyptian city of AL Arish to the Jordanian city of AL Aqaba.

The amount of natural gas which is expected to be exported through the pipeline Arish/Aqaba is estimated by 600,000 tons annually.

The regional project is worth dlrs 1 billion. During the coming phases of the project, the pipeline will be stretched from Jordan to Syria and Lebanon by 2005, Cyprus by 2006 and later to Turkey and Europe.

It is going to be one of the largest inter-regional enterprises in the field of energy, the diplomat said describing it as part of the dream to realise Arab economic integration and build a common Arab market.

He said he expects the project to create ample job opportunities and help in the establishment of several light and heavy industries.

During the second stage of the project a 370km-long pipeline from AL Aqaba to the power station in Rehab, north of Jordan will be set up. From there it would reach AL Kharaba and AL-Hussein thermal stations.

Investments of the first stage of the pipeline, which was financed by the Arab Economic and Social Development Fund, amounts to about 200 million dollars.

Egyptian consortium has recently won an international bid offered by Jordan to build the second phase of the project whose cost is expected to reach up to 250 million dollars.