Sunday, July 27, 2003

 Egypt and Jordan inaugurate underwater gas pipeline
http://www.spa.gov.sa/html/archive_e.asp?srcfile=565304&NDay=27/07/2003&wcat
g=0
CAIRO, Egypt, July 27, SPA -- Egypt and Jordan inaugurated an underwater pipeline that will allow Egypt to supply energy-strapped Jordan with 2.7 billion cubic meters (94.5 billion cubic feet) of natural gas a year, the first stage of a plan to extend the gas grid all the way to Europe. The first, completed stage takes the pipeline across 245 kilometers (153 miles) of the Sinai peninsula from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and then 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) underwater to the Jordanian port of Aqaba. The second stage will be a 370-kilometer (222-mile) pipeline from Aqaba to northern Jordan. The third stage, beginning in 2006, will extend pipelines to Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey and later to Europe.

Egypt has potential reserves of 70 trillion cubic feet and hopes to become
one of the world's top 10 exporters of natural gas in the next four years.

Sunday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Jordan met in the Egyptian resort city of Taba, 450 kilometers (280 miles) east of the capital Cairo, near the head of the gulf of Aqaba, for the inauguration
ceremony. They then went across the gulf to Aqaba, where they inaugurated a thermal gas station that will be fueled by the natural gas supplied through the pipeline. --SPA

Reproduced by permission of IMRA, Independent Media Review and Analysis, Israel.
 
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=17725