Mubarak, Abdullah inaugurate Egyptian gas pipe line to Jordan; Lebanon, Syria and Europe next

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and the Jordanian King Abdullah II yesterday inaugurated the sea part of a gas pipeline which links Taba in Egypt to al-Aqaba in Jordan and permits later the foundation of a regional network to export the Egyptian gas to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon in 2005 and to Europe.

The project, however, is considered a model to be followed for economic cooperation among the Arab states to be completed at a cost of one billion dollars. The two leaders considered the project as an important step for building a joint Arab work. The pipeline transports liquid gas from the Mediterranean through al- Areesh city to Taba to the east of Sinai on the Red Sea just few kilometers from Eilat in Israel and al-Aqaba in Jordan. The pipeline passes under the sea at a distance of 15 Km in front of Eilat before it surfaces in al-Aqaba in the Jordanian side. The pipeline will transport 1.1 billion cubic meters per year of natural gas to Jordan, where the first al-Aqaba thermal station exists.

The project aims at transporting Egyptian natural gas to Jordan and then to the Syrian port of Banias on the Mediterranean and then to al-Zahrani refinery in Lebanon in 2005 and then to Cyprus in 2006 and then to Turkey and Europe.

According to Egyptian officials, on average the exportation of the Egyptian gas will provide 70 million dollars for Egypt in the first year and USD 200 million after two years and at least 500 million dollars after five years.

Egypt, however, is considered between the first 20 gas producers in the world. Its reserve of natural gas is estimated at 165 billion cubic meters. Experts took part in Taba's celebrations said that the gas export network will be among the main regional project for cooperation in the field of energy. This however, comes at a time of increasing demands to found the common Arab market. The gas pipeline project was signed in June 2001.