Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi said on Wednesday that he was looking to bolster protection of a natural gas pipeline delivering gas to Jordan.
The comments, confirmed by Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, who was in Cairo for an official visit, come only days after the pipeline delivering gas to Jordan and Israel was attacked and blown up by militants in the Sinai Peninsula.
It was the 15th such attack since the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, and again put Jordan’s energy needs in jeopardy.
Jordan also asked Egypt to increase the amount of gas it pumps to the country, Judeh told reporters on Wednesday following a meeting with Morsi in Cairo.
Gas supplies have been disrupted 11 times for a total of 150 days since the attacks began, the foreign minister said.
Activists have long called on Egypt to end delivering natural gas to Israel, which receives gas supplies from Egypt under a controversial deal that is well below international rates for gas.
