AMMAN, 26 January 2004 — The prime ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria were poised to sign a pipeline deal yesterday that will eventually supply liquefied natural gas from Egypt to the other three states.
The latest agreement is for a 393-kilometer section from the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba to the Rihab power station in the north of the kingdom that will have a capacity of 10 billion cubic meters a year, the office of Jordanian Prime Minister Faisal Al-Fayez said.
From there the pipeline is due to be extended to the Syrian port of Banias and the Lebanese refinery of Zahrani in 2005, and then Cyprus and Turkey in 2006.
King Abdallah II of Jordan and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt already inaugurated the first section of the pipeline from the Egypt to Aqaba in July last year.
Egypt has proven natural gas reserves of 1,656 billion cubic meters, according to October 2002 figures.
