Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 21 / Trend A.Tagiyeva /
Egypt will begin fully exporting gas to Jordan as approved in an agreement signed earlier between the parties, Al Jazeera channel quoted Egyptian Prime Minister Abdullah En-Nasur as saying.
The Prime Minister said that up till yesterday, Jordan received only 190-210 million cubic feet of gas per day. However, starting this Friday, Jordan will receive 250 million cubic feet of Egyptian gas daily.
Jordan covers about 80 per cent of the gas needs through imports from Egypt. In the past, the Egyptian section of the Pan-Arab gas pipeline was frequently attacked by terrorists. 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 only resumed on March 16.
Since the beginning of last month mass demonstrations have been taking place in Jordan in connection with the increase in fuel prices by up to 50 per cent due to the growing state budget deficit of the country which stands at $7.7 billion.
According to official data, losses to Jordan caused by the short supply of Egyptian gas amount to about one billion dollars per year, but in reality, the losses can be much higher, Jordanian Senate Deputy Mustafa Fayyad earlier told Trend.