The $70 million gas pipeline between Egypt and Jordan went on stream yesterday as King Abdullah of Jordan and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt officially opened the channel at Taba.
The pipeline is forecasted to generate close to $70 million in its first year in operation for Egypt, reported AFP. The network will transport approximately 1.1 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Jordan annually where it will processed by French company Alstom.
Work on the Taba-Aqaba portion of the 15-kilometer underwater link across the Red Sea commenced in early-March 2003 by Swiss offshore pipelay and subsea construction company, Allseas.
Egypt’s EPEG Consortium, which includes the Egypt Holding Gas Company, GASCO, Petrojet and Emppi, were commissioned with extending the stretch of pipeline from Aqaba onward to the Hashemite Kingdom’s northern power stations. EPEG was awarded the $230 million deal on a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis.
The Taba-Aqaba stretch is part of a $700 million regional scheme, to transport up to 3.5 billion cubic meters of Egyptian natural gas per year to Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and then onto Europe, primarily Cyprus, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
