Egypt will not export natural gas to Israel

The Egyptian government denied any intention of holding new negotiations on the export of natural gas to Israel.

The Egyptian minister of petroleum, Dr. Hamdi al-Banbi said, "We do not have plans for future talks concerning this matter because of Israel's attitude toward the peace process."

Israel failed to obtain any deal before Qatar halted a project to export the natural gas due to the project's high cost. A recent Israeli delegation to Qatar failed to solve the problem.

Al-Banbi said Egypt is currently examining several gas export projects. One is to export 150 million cubic feet daily to Jordan, increasing gradually to almost 300 million cubic feet. This agreement was signed during last October by the Egyptian Petrolium Organization.

Another project concentrates on exporting natural gas to Turkey, and negotiations are underway with the American company Amoco and the Italian Wini to agree on the best ways to implement this project.

The third projects deals with establishing mutual pipelines for oil and gas with Libya.