Egypt's Petroleum Minister Sherief Ismail expressed the possibility of importing natural gas from Israel according to the needs and interests of Egypt.
"Anything can happen. The issue of importing gas from Israel will be decided in accordance with what achieves the best interest of Egypt and the best interest of the Egyptian economy and what serves Egypt's role in the region," Ismail told Al-Mosawer Magazine in an interview published Wednesday.
Egypt and Israel signed the gas export deal in 2005 under former President Hosni Mubarak. Calls for rescinding the agreement surged intensively following the former leader’s ouster in 2011.
In April 2012, Egypt’s state-run gas company terminated the controversial natural gas deal with Israel.
News reports had recently mentioned that gas would be delivered from Israel to Egypt through a pipeline originally constructed by EMG to export Egyptian gas to Israel.
The East Mediterranean Gas (EMG), the company co-owned by Mubarak-era businessman Hussein Salem, denied on Sunday 14 December circulated reports about its involvement in a gas deal between Egypt and Israel.
The partners in Israel's offshore Tamar gas field have announced they are negotiating the sale of at least 5 billion cubic metres of gas over three years to private customers in Egypt via an old pipeline built to send gas in the other direction, Reuters reported in October 2014.
The Egyptian Cabinet earlier denied in May 2014 the import of gas from Israel and referred to the news as “rumors” spread by different newspapers and media.
Noble Energy and Union Fenosa Gas announced a letter of intent for the export of Tamar natural Gas to existing Liquefaction Natural Gas facilities (LNG) in Egypt on 5 May.
The letter of intent indicated that the contract would last for 15 years and a total gross sales quantity of up to 2.5 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas, approximately 440 million cubic feet per day over the period.
