Jordan and Egypt signed a gas sales agreement this week in Cairo that would see the kingdom import 50% of its gas needs from Egypt in 2019. Current Jordan gas demand is around 350mn cfd which fires virtually all of the country’s conventional power plants (MEES, 14 December 2018). Egypt began sending Jordan modest volumes last year with the remainder of Jordan’s gas coming from its FSRU offshore Aqaba (MEES, 30 November 2018).
Details on the deal are scarce: Jordan’s energy minister Hala Adel Zawati says the price is ‘linked to Brent’ and is effective for one year. After that, imports from Egypt will grow more problematic – especially as Israel begins exporting gas to Egypt with the startup of the Leviathan gas field (MEES, 9 November 2018). This will either halt volumes to Jordan or force the kingdom to import ‘Egyptian’ gas of Israeli origin. (CONTINUED - 140 WORDS)