EGYPT HAS GIVEN preliminary approval to sending Jordan more gas through the Arab gas pipeline project, according to reports.p>EGYPT HAS GIVEN preliminary approval to sending Jordan more gas through the Arab gas pipeline project, according to reports.
Jordan was connected to Egypt through the Arab gas pipeline project in 2003 after the project was agreed to in 2000 to export Egyptian gas to Jordan, and then beyond.
"The Egyptian government has given its preliminary approval to the Jordanian government's request to supply it with additional quantities of natural gas of around 500mmcm," according to Jordanian Minister Khalid Irani.
Egyptian oil officials have said Egypt exports 5.7 mmcm/d to 7.1 mmcm/d of natural gas to Jordan.
The agreement signed between both countries for Arab pipeline exports was originally for 1.1 bcm/d.
Egyptian gas flows through the pipeline from Arish in Egypt to Aqaba in Jordan and from there to Homs in Syria and enters Lebanon through Tripoli.
Egyptian oil officials were not immediately available for comment but Egypt said last year it would not sign any new gas export contracts until 2010 in order to meet rising local demand.
Arab energy officials say that unlike other joint projects that have mostly proved to be white elephants, the Arab pipeline could be a foreign currency earner if Europe uses it to import part of its growing needs for gas.
