CAIRO: Egypt is now pumping gas to Jordan and Israel after a disruption caused by an attack on a pipeline and has more than doubled the price it is charging Jordan, top Egyptian officials on Monday. "It is being pumped now," state-owned EGAS Chairman Hassan Al-Mahdy told reporters. Israel had said on Sunday that gas flows had resumed. Petroleum Minister Abdullah Ghorab said the new price agreed for gas exported to Jordan was just above $5 per million BTU, compared to the previous price of $2.15 to $2.30. The officials said the new price was for exporting the same quantity of gas as before, not for any additional quantities, a subject which has been broached in the past. "It's slightly above $5 (per million BTU) for the same quantities that we had agreed to before," Ghorab said when asked about the new price. A company official from East Mediterranean Gas Co (EMG), which takes gas for Israel, 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. That followed disruptions caused by pipeline attacks. Asked about any move by EMG to seek arbitration against Egypt over the disruption of flows to Israel, Mahdy said: "We have not received any formal notice." Israel hailed the 20-year natural gas deal it signed with Egypt in 2005 as one of the most important agreements to emerge from the historic peace deal the countries reached in 1979. But there has been some uncertainty over ties between the two countries after political turmoil in Egypt that led to the ousting of president Hosni Mubarak. The Israel gas deal was unpopular in Egypt, where critics argued the Jewish state had been offered gas at prices that were too low. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Egyptian government is losing control in Sinai, through which the gas pipeline that leads to both Israel and Jordan runs. Egypt's Cabinet approved a deal signed between the Egyptian oil ministry and its Jordanian counterpart to hike the price of gas exports to Jordan, the Egyptian state news said on Thursday.
