Despite promise, gas supply from Egypt has still not resumed

Despite official announcements that Egypt was resuming its natural gas supply to Israel on Monday, it didn’t, after a new malfunction reportedly developed.

The supplier, Eastern Mediterranean Gas, explained yesterday that when gas was sent through the pipeline, a leak had been discovered at a seam.

If so, the supply to Israel could be delayed by a matter of days until the leak is repaired and the repair is tested.

On Sunday EMG advised that the supply would resume Monday, after completion of repair work and testing of the pipeline that was shut down on February 5, after saboteurs attacked a metrology station in the Sinai, on the pipeline to Jordan.

The ensuing explosion and fire were 30 kilometers from the pipeline infrastructure to Israel, but the entire system had to be shut down.

At first EMG postulated that supply would resume on February 17, then said it would delay until the end of February. March 4 was then touted as a resumption date.

“While resuming commercial gas supply by GASCO (the Egyptian gas transport company ) to EMG and its Israeli customers, a leak was discovered when the gas pressure exceeded 60 bars,” Ampal-American Israel Corp, which owns 12.5% of EMG, stated yesterday. “The GASCO field team is currently working to repair the leak in its system. Consequently, commercial gas supply to Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria as well as to major Egyptian cement industries and power gas consumers in the Sinai Peninsula awaits completion of repair,” Ampal stated.

EMG supplies about 45% of the gas the Israel Electric Corporation consumes in its power plants.

For the time being the utility has been buying from the Tethys Sea group instead. EMG is also supposed to imminently start supplying another giant client, Oil Refineries, which has converted its systems to using gas.