Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.18 / Trend, A.Taghiyeva /
Egypt increased gas supplies to Jordan from 40 to 100 million cubic feet per day from December, Jordanian news agency Petra quotes the country's Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour as saying on Tuesday.
According to Ensour, Egypt also plans to increase gas supplies to Jordan up to 250 million cubic feet per day in the next few months.
Jordan covers about 80 per cent of its gas needs through imports from Egypt. In the past, the Egyptian section of the Pan-Arab gas pipeline has frequently been subjected to terrorism. In February 2011, an explosion rocked the section of pipeline near El Arish. Gas supplies to Israel and Jordan were suspended for more than a month and resumed only on March 16.
Since the beginning of November, mass demonstrations have taken place in Jordan over a 50 per cent increase in fuel prices because of the growing state budget deficit of the country which has now reached $7.7 billion.
According to official data, the loss to Jordan due to short supply of Egyptian gas is about $1 billion per year, but in reality the losses can be much higher, Jordanian Senate member Mustafa Fayyad told Trend earlier.