Egypt resumes supply of natural gas to Israel

Egypt resumed supplies of natural gas to Israel on Saturday, more than a week after a northern Sinai pipeline was bombed, Egyptian media reports said. An official from Ampal-American Israel Corp, part of the consortium that exports gas to Israel, said: "It was advised by East Mediterranean Gas Co, in which Ampal has a 12.5 per cent interest, that gas supply to EMG, and subsequently to EMG's Israeli customers, which was interrupted on Nov. 10, 2011, has resumed yesterday," Egyptian daily Al-Ahram online reported Sunday. The pipeline has been a target of a series of attacks by anonymous saboteurs since the overthrow of Mubarak in February. A company official from Egyptian gas exporter East Mediterranean Gas Co had said in July that international shareholders in the firm were pursuing legal claims against Egypt for $8 billion in damages from contract violations in gas supplies, following disruptions caused by pipeline attacks. Egypt supplies 43 percent of Israel's natural gas, which generates 40 percent of Israeli electricity. The sale of gas to Israel, which signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, has always been controversial in the Arab world's most populous country. Critics say Egypt sells gas to neighboring Jordan and Israel at below-market rates. Egypt doubled the price of gas exported to Jordan last month, and officials warned that they would amend charges to Israel.