Egypt: Gas find won’t hurt deals with Israel

2 September 2015, 5:33 pm

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The discovery of natural gas deposits off the coast of Egypt will not undermine the business transactions between the country’s private sector and Israel, Sherif Ismail, Egypt’s minister of petroleum and mineral resources, says.

Egypt’s new natural gas bonanza is causing an uproar in Israel, with energy stocks plummeting and recriminations over indecisiveness and infighting that have delayed production from the country’s own gas fields.

The government is currently struggling to get parliament to approve its natural gas business plan, but observers fear Israel may need to reassess everything now that Egypt, which had been cast as both an export destination and a partner, may have found its own independent solution.