AhlulBayt News Agency

source : Globes
Saturday

30 July 2011

7:30:00 PM
256694

Egyptian gas pipeline to Israel hit for fifth time

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - For the fifth time this year, unknown men yesterday blew up the terminal serving the main pipeline from which gas flows to Israel from Egypt in the northern Sinai, AP reported. Egyptian sources have confirmed the report.

This attack at the al-Shulaq gas terminal is the third on the pipeline this month alone and the fifth since the beginning of the year, when an uprising toppled dictator President Hosni Mubarak.

While no one claimed responsibility, Egyptian officials have accused an Bedouin group in northern Sinai of the attack. On Friday, there was an exchange of gunfire between Egyptian security forces and the Bedouin, in which five people were killed.

These repeated attacks have caused disruptions in gas supply from Egypt to Israel, Jordan and Syria. The Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) announced recently that as a result of disruptions in gas supply, and the transition to using alternative fuels to produce electricity (mainly diesel), needs NIS 3-3.5 billion in immediate government financial assistance.

The disruption in the Egyptian gas supply has also harmed Yosef Maiman's Ampal-American Israel Corporation (Nasdaq: AMPL; TASE:AMPL), a partner of Egyptian gas supplier East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG).

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