CAIRO: Minister of Petroleum Abdallah Ghorab told the People's Assembly (PA) Monday that the average citizen does not benefit from the LE 20 billion allocated subsidy for butane gas cylinders due to poor distribution. Ghorab, who was rebuked by an MP for giving numbers that don't add up, said an insufficient amount of cylinders reaches the people. The petroleum minister was summoned to the PA session on Monday, where MPs called for stopping gas export to Israel. PA deputy, Mohamed Abdel Aleem Dawoud, said that the Egyptian government is meeting the needs of the Israeli citizen at the expense of the Egyptian citizen. MP Bahaa El-Din Atteya said that the current butane gas cylinders and gas shortages is a major threat to national security. He accused “corrupt officials” at the ministry who “use thugs to get gas and diesel and then sell it in the black market for up to LE 60.” On the other hand, MP Tarek Sebbaq warned that this gas crisis has a direct effect on the subsidized bread which will create a “hunger revolution” and chaos will ensue. MPs have suggested that warehouses where the butane gas cylinders are stored be supervised in order to prevent any robberies that might smuggle them into the black market. Ghorab said that in 2011, gas reached 600,000 households and there are plans to increase this figure to 750,000 in 2012.
