An Egyptian administrative court annulled the government's decision to export natural gas to Israel, causing US$9 million in losses to this country every day, according to the plaintiffs. Judicial sources quoted by the official news agency MENA said the court ruled in favor of a lawsuit filed by a group of lawyers headed by Ibrahim Yousri.
Although the verdict called to end exports of gas to Israel, there is still an appeals process and it is expected that the government will pursue that course of action.
The pipeline used to export gas to Israel was inaugurated in May 2008 by virtue of an agreement signed in 2005 with East Mediterranean Gas Co (EMG) to supply 1.7 billion cubic meters of gas a year for a 20-year period. However, Yousri and the activists who backed his lawsuit claim that Egypt loses US$9 million a day, as the original set price has not changed despite the rise in hydrocarbon prices.
EMG is a private energy consortium co-owned by Egyptian businessman Hussein Salem and the Israeli Merhav Group, headed by Yusef Meiman. The gas being supplied to Israel specifically goes to the Israel Electric Corporation.
