"Egypt's strategic and economic interests have not changed because of the internal events. Egypt's natural gas exports will continue as usual," Egypt's East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG) shareholder Yosef Maiman said today. Maiman owns 20.5% of EMG through Ampal-American Israel Corporation (Nasdaq: AMPL; TASE:AMPL) and Merhav MNF Ltd.
In his first comments on the situation, Maiman added that Egypt would continue to export natural gas, either as liquefied natural gas (LNG), or via pipeline to Israel, Jordan, and Syria, because it was a critical source of revenue.
Maiman added, "As far as we Israelis are concerned, Egypt has exports of $1.5 billion of goods and tens of thousands of jobs thanks to the Qualified Industrial Zone (QIZ) agreement with Israel, which allows Egypt to export goods to the US. Gas exports to Israel guarantee Egypt an additional $1 billion revenue a year. These economic interests strengthen broader strategic interests between the countries.
"All the international energy companies in Egypt are reporting business as usual, and there are no signs that the internal events are affecting the activity of EMG. It is a multinational company, and we're in regular contact with Cairo and the US and Thai shareholders. Everyone has been updated that the gas is flowing as usual."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 30, 2011
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011