Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Abdallah Ghorab said today (Sunday) in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper "Al- Shoruuk" that Egypt exports gas to Israel at a higher price than the export price of US gas.
To complaints raised by experts in Egypt recently that the country was losing $13 million a day due to lower-priced gas exports to Israel, the Egyptian minister replied: "I cannot understand on what basis they estimate the loss, if there is a loss at all - there is no global gas price."
The petroleum minister said that most people would not believe that Egypt was exporting gas at a higher price than the price at which the US exports. He said Egyptian gas sells for over $3 per million btu - nearly double the price at which the US sells gas, which is close to $1.5.The price is still lower than prices in Europe.
He said people could be confident that those who work in the oil ministry were no less patriotic than them. "The very fact that we take a responsible position does not mean that we are betraying the country. People do not even want to believe that we are not exporting gas to Israel at a price of $1.3 per million btu," said the minister.
"Who said I was happy with the current gas export price? No, I'm not happy with current prices. I'll never be satisfied, I will always want a better price. I, like other people, would like to sell the gas at $14 or even more, " the minister said.
The minister said that Egypt was not negotiating to change gas prices with Israel only, but with all the other countries to which it exported.
In the interview with the newspaper, Ghorab was asked if, in the new era after the revolution in Egypt, his office was still going to ignore the court ruling to stop the export of gas to Israel. He replied that had not yet received any ruling to enforce this decision. "As petroleum minister, I do not have the authority to stop the export of gas to Israel."
The minister added, "Even if I wanted to, I could not accept such a decision. We are committed to supply gas to Israel under international agreements. If we break the agreements - they could sue us in the international court."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 10, 2011
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011