Arutz Sheva: Egypt Halts Talks on Buying Israeli Gas

The Egyptian Government decided Sunday to halt talks on importing Israeli natural gas after an international arbitration court ordered Egypt to pay Israel a fine of about $1.76B, reported Bloomberg.

The fine was imposed following an arbitration process between East Mediterranean Gas Co., the Israel Electric Corporation and companies supplying Egyptian gas through a Sinai pipeline, which was repeatedly sabotaged.

Egypt will appeal the ruling by a panel at the Geneva-based International Chamber of Commerce within six weeks, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said in an interview.

The Egyptian government also ordered Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. and Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. to stop grating permission to companies to import Israeli gas until the fate of the appeal on the ruling becomes clear, the oil ministry said in a statement. MORE