Egypt will not repay any amounts in Eastern Mediterranean gas arbitration settlement: Shoaib
The Egyptian East Gas Company aims to transfer gas from the fields of Delek and Noble in the Mediterranean Sea to Egyptian liquefaction factories, after finishing the settlements of the international arbitration lawsuits filed against Egypt, during the first quarter (Q1) next year.
Mohamed Shoaib, the CEO of East Gas Company, told Daily News Egypt that Egyptian Dolphinus is the company with a contract with foreign partners Delek and Noble to transfer gas through the line of East Mediterranean Gas’s company of which 39% of shares were acquired.
He explained that the share acquired by the East Mediterranean Gas Company is owned by investors involved in international arbitration lawsuits filed against Egypt.
Shoaib stressed that Egypt will not be repaying any amounts of money in the international arbitration settlements cases filed by the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Company.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Geneva has issued a verdict that obliges EGAS and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation to pay compensations worth $288m and $1.7bn to Israel’s Electricity Company after Cairo’s decision to halt exporting gas to Tel Aviv in April 2012.That verdict was issued in December 2015.
He noted that following the acquisition deal of his company, in cooperation with Delek and Noble to acquire a 39% share of the gas of East the Mediterranean Gas company (IMG), the owner of the gas line extending between Ashkelon and Arish, the arbitration lawsuit will be waived.
The Eastern Gas Company owns shares of Dutch “EMED” company, acquiring 50% of its shares, the CEO pointed out, adding that Delek and Noble own 50% of the shares of the Dutch company through two companies owned by them in Cyprus.
Shoaib said that the gas will be gradually transferred from the Mediterranean fields owned by Delek and Noble, to reach the quantities of about 1m cubic feet of gas per day by 2027.
If the amount of gas to be transferred from the Israeli fields to Egypt increased, reaching about 1m cubic feet per day (the daily capacity of the line), the gas line will be utilised to export gas to Jordan, He highlighted.
The East Mediterranean gas pipeline is 90 km long, and is located in the Mediterranean Sea, linking Israel’s pipeline network from Ashkelon to the Egyptian pipeline network near El Arish.