A Jordanian official confirmed Saturday that the explosion which targeted a gas pipeline in the city of Arish, Egypt, led to the halt of gas supplies to the kingdom. Jordan depends heavily (80 percent) on the Egyptian natural gas to generate electricity.
Director General of the Jordanian National Electricity Company, Dr. Ghaleb Muabara, ordered all the power plants operating in the Jordan to start using heavy fuel and diesel in order to continue to generate electricity. He added that the Egyptian side estimated that the repair of the pipeline will take a week . Jordanian experts believe the current Jordanian reserves of fuel and diesel will be enough for about three weeks.
The Jordanian official estimated the additional cost to convert power stations to heavy fuel and diesel by US$2.4 million a day.
Jordan and Egypt agreed last July to renew the agreement between the two countries, whereas Egypt was to supply 300 million cubic feet of gas per day for Jordan to generate electricity.
Jordan imports about 96 percent of its total energy needs with a total cost, which amounted in 2009 to US$7.2 billion.
