British company discovers large natural gas reservoir off Egyptian coast

A British company operating off the coast of Egypt discovered a large natural gas reservoir, the Egyptian Ministry of Energy announced on Saturday.

The discovery by British Gas near Ras El-Bar reportedly contains 3.4 billion cubic meters of gas, according to Israel Radio.

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In April, Egypt unilaterally cancelled its agreement to supply Israel with natural gas in what appeared to be a new indication of the steadily deteriorating relations between the countries since the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Some leading Israeli politicians characterized the cancelation as a major breach of the 1979 peace agreement, but the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and Egypt’s ruling military leadership both described the move as “commercial” rather than “political” and said it was rooted in a dispute over interrupted supplies and payments.

Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.