Jordan and Egypt on Thursday (August 9th) signed amending agreements on the sale and purchase of natural gas, under which Amman will import from Cairo 10% of its needs of natural gas to generate electricity, The Jordan Times reported.
In a press statement, following the signing ceremony and a meeting with Egyptian counterpart Tarek el-Molla, Energy Minister Hala Zawati said that both sides signed amendments to 2004 agreements, which included gas amounts that have not been provided for Jordan.
Egypt has provided Jordan with 250 million cubic feet of natural gas daily since 2004, but these amounts started decreasing late 2009 until they were completely halted in 2011 after around 25 sabotage attacks on the Arab Gas Pipeline, the ministry said.
Such conditions resulted in cumulative losses for the government-owned National Electric Power Company of around five billion Jordanian dinars ($7 billion), according to the statement.
The country had to rely on a more costly heavy fuel to operate its generation facilities, before switching to liquefied natural gas after building a special terminal in Aqaba to handle the incoming shipments.
Jordan's daily needs of natural gas for electricity generation stands at 330 million cubic feet.
