Egypt to increase gas supplies to Jordan to 60 mcf daily

Egypt has agreed to boost Jordan’s gas supplies during the upcoming stage, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Alaa Batayneh said. Egypt will raise gas quantities from 42 million cubic feet (mcf) per day to 60 (mcf), the minister told Petra on Friday. Batayneh held talks last week in Cairo with Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Osama Kamal on the future of the Egyptian-Jordanian gas agreement. The minister expected that the increase in gas supplies would contribute to reduce losses of the Jordanian National Electric Power Company by only 8%. A gas deal between Egypt and Jordan was signed in 2004 and renewed last year to supply Jordan with 300 mcf per day. Jordan imported at least 97 % of its energy needs last year at a cost of nearly one-fifth of its gross domestic product.