CAIRO: North Sinai Security Advisor Sherif Ismail said Thursday it could take more than two weeks to repair damages caused by Wednesday's explosion of a gas terminal in Al-Arish, the capital of North Sinai. The pipeline blast in El-Sabeel village, which was perpetrated by masked gunmen in the early hours of Wednesday, forced officials to shut down the pipeline that supplies gas to Israel and Jordan. "The fire is still blazing and it'll be at least three to four days before it goes out, after which authorities can begin repairing the pipeline damage and then resume the gas flow," a security source told Reuters. Security officers were looking for five saboteurs who fled the scene before they could be identified, the source added. The explosion caused the gas-fired steam power plant near the pipeline to halt operations Thursday at 8 am until the liquefied natural gas is replaced with Mazut, a process that takes 10 hours. In the meantime, the power was cut in the western part of Al-Arish until the process is complete. Ismail said that the act of sabotage has had a negative impact on the governorate. Shutting down the terminal led to a shortage in the supply of natural gas to some parts of Al-Arish as well as to a cement factory in central Sinai. A local source said on condition of anonymity that the attack led to an increase in price of trafficked natural gas to the Gaza Strip on the Egyptian border. Authorities deployed more forces to protect other terminals around the Sinai Peninsula and prevent similar attacks. About 40 percent of Israel's natural gas supply is imported from Egypt. Political forces and activists have repeatedly accused the former regime of wasting Egypt's resources for the sake of an “enemy state,” and launched a long legal battle and a campaign against the petroleum ministry. The legal battle ended with the Supreme Administrative Court authorizing the sale of gas to Israel in February 2010, while adding that the government should monitor the prices and the quantity of its exports. Wednesday's attack came a few days after Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud referred former petroleum minister Sameh Fahmy and six other officials to court on charges related to the natural gas deal with Israel. Fahmy and the others were accused of "committing the crimes of harming the country's interests, squandering public funds and enabling others to make financial profits through selling and exporting Egyptian gas to the state of Israel at a low price below international market rates at the time of the contract." Mahmoud said in a statement that the deal in question caused Egypt losses worth more than $714 million and enabled a local businessman, Hussein Salem, also indicted in the same case but at large, to make exorbitant financial gains.
