«Israel»-Jordan Natural Gas Trade Begins

Local Editor

In the line of Arab-"Israeli" normalizations, Jordan began its first ever imports of "Israeli" natural gas on Thursday.

An "Israeli" company said that it had started exporting gas from an offshore field to Jordan, marking the apartheid "Israeli" entity's first ever exports of natural gas.

The exports to Jordan began in January, Delek Drilling -- part of a consortium leading the development of the entity's offshore gas reserves - told AFP.

There was no formal announcement at the time but it is the first time the entity had ever exported natural gas, a company spokeswoman said.

Jordanian firms Arab Potash and Jordan Bromine signed a deal in 2014 to import 2 billion cubic meters [around 70 billion cubic feet] of gas from the "Israeli" entity's Tamar field over 15 years.

At the time reports said the deal was worth $771 million.

Jordan is one of only two Arab countries to have a so-called "peace deal" with the "Israeli" entity but the 1994 agreement is unpopular among Jordanians.

Detractors of the gas deal, including Jordan's main opposition party, reject any cooperation with a country they regard as an enemy.

However, the resource-poor Arab country had few alternatives to tackle shortages.

The "Israeli" entity historically had few natural resources but discovered a series of offshore gas fields in recent years.

In September 2016, a larger deal worth an estimated $10 billion was signed to export gas from the Leviathan offshore field to Jordan.

In the face of protests, Jordanian Information Minister Mohamed Momani defended the deal, telling state television it would cut $600 million a year from the state's energy bill.

Deliveries from Leviathan are expected to begin in 2019.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team