One day after the blast at the Sinai pumping station on the pipeline supplying natural gas from Egypt to Israel, reports say that the damage was not great, and that the gas supply is set to resume. The blast occurred Sunday morning at Bir al-Abd in the northern Sinai, 100 kilometers from El Arish. But the damage was reportedly far more limited than on the previous two occasions earlier this year. Both times gas supplies were halted for over a month.
The damage was not to the pipeline owned by EMG which purchases gas from Egypt to sell to Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) and other private Israeli customers.
However, the latest blast, which like the previous attacks is against the interests of the Egyptian government, once again shows lack of government control in the Sinai peninsular, even though security reinforcements were recently dispatched to the region.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 5, 2011
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