CAIRO: Egypt and Israel have signed a new gas deal worth an estimated $3.3 billion. The Egyptian East Mediterranean Gas Company sealed an already two-year-old agreement reached between the company and the Israeli company Dorad Energy, despite ongoing anger rising in Egypt over gas deals with the Jewish state. Under the deal, which was inked this week, EMG will supply the Israeli company with between 12.5 to 16 billion cubic meters of gas over the next 17 to 22 years. EMG estimates that the annual income from the deal will be somewhere around $135 million. EMG currently supplies gas to the state owned Israel Electrical Corporation (IEC) under a 20 year deal signed in 2005, but the company recently lost a bid to supply $1 billion worth of natural gas to the IEC to another Israeli firm. The export of Egyptian gas to Israel is highly controversial in Egypt, and as recently as April a Cairo court overturned a ruling made by a previous Administrative Court to ban exportation of Egyptian natural gas to Israel. The court reversed an earlier decision after a petition from the Egyptian prime minister and the ministries of Petroleum and Finance. The court argued that the export of gas fell solely under the jurisdiction of the state and only the government could decide on international affairs. Money is always a factor. In the 2005 deal, the price that the Israel Electrical Corporation was expected to pay for the gas was far below international standards. According to some Egyptian estimates the country was losing $9 million daily due to price reductions. BM
