An official source at the Ministry of Petroleum has confirmed that EMG Co. has increased the quantities of Egyptian natural gas it exports to Israel by 50% annually, after it reached an agreement with the Israeli government to increase prices. The Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said the company started pumping 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually to Israel immediately after signing the new contracts, an amount close to the ceiling of 1.7 billion cubic meters that the company had promised the Israeli government.
The official, who requested anonymity, said that price raise was the main condition for the Egyptian side to agree on increasing the quantities, pointing out that the new agreement also includes a mechanism to periodically review the prices. He said the agreement is an achievement for the Ministry of Petroleum, as the new prices will for the first time apply to the old supplied quantities as well, pointing out that any increase in the quantities of any new contracts with any country in the world, be it Israel, Spain, France or Italy, will be contingent on a price raise. However, he declined to comment as to why this rule is not applied for Jordan, for which the price raise would only be applied to the new quantities. "Jordan has a special political nature," he said. The Globes international business newspaper said EMG will buy the gas from the Egyptian government for prices ranging between $ 2.5 and $ 3.5 per million thermal units, as opposed to $ 1.5 and $ 1.6 per million thermal units in 2000. In the same context, informed sources at the Israeli Infrastructure Ministry said the Israeli Electricity Company, the main user of the Egyptian gas, is negotiating with EMG to increase the amount of gas exported to Israel as of 2012 in accordance with the new prices.
