CAIRO: Egyptian security forces pre-empted an attack on the natural-gas pipeline in northern Sinai on Monday, Magdi Tawfik, head of the Egyptian Natural Gas Company (ENGC) told the Middle East News Agency (MENA). Attackers planned to damaged the pipeline near the Sinai city of al-Arish in order to interrupt Egyptian natural-gas supply to Israel. Gas trade between Egypt and Israel had been temporarily banned in 2010, as many maintained that Egypt was selling gas to Israel at a price much lower than international standards. The controversy stirred popular indignation and was finally resolved following a ruling by the Egyptian Supreme Court that overturned the previous sentence and lifted the ban, in early February. Nonetheless main opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei and reformist judge Hisham el-Bastawisi as well as Egyptian public opinion are strongly against normalization of relationships between Egypt and neighboring country Israel. Demonstrators gathering in Cairo against the anti-protest laws recently signed by the government on Sunday, also expressed their resentment against Egyptian-Israeli political and economic relations. According to the U.S. Energy Department, Egypt is the main producer of the fuel in the eastern Mediterranean. Nonetheless, the change in Egypt's government “will likely not have a significant direct impact on the global oil and natural gas markets,” declared Michael Ratner, analyst in Energy Policy for the Congressional Research Service, as its oil and natural gas exports are not large enough to affect regional or global prices. BM
