Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Jordan and the Palestinian Authority have agreed in principle to start negotiations for Jordan to purchase natural gas from a field recently discovered off Gaza's coast.

In a statement to Anadolu news agency, the chairperson of the energy committee in the Jordanian parliament, Gamal Qumwa, explained that the preliminary agreement includes supplying Jordan with 150 cubic feet of natural gas from Gaza's field. He pointed out that this quantity would cover 50 per cent of Jordan's natural gas needs, which ranges from between 300 to 350 cubic feet per day.

In 1999, the Palestinian Authority granted the company British Gas and the Federation of Contractors a concession to explore offshore gas in Gaza's sea. Two fields were discovered in the year 2000, located 30 km off Gaza's coast and at a depth of 600 meters.

The agreement, when finalised, will be valid for between 15 to 20 years, during which time Jordan will receive half of the field's production.

Qumwa noted that the agreement would benefit Jordan in that it will cover a large portion of its needs with a relatively low cost due to the proximity of Gaza's gas field to Jordan.

He predicted that transporting the gas would be carried out initially via ships, until the establishment of a pipeline that would connect Gaza's field with Al-Aqaba gas port in Jordan, now under construction.

The MP did not reveal the price that Jordan would pay in return for the Palestinian gas.

Jordan suffers from high energy bills, amounting to $6.4 billion last year and $3.2 billion in the first half of this year, recording a 22.7 per cent increase compared with the same period last year, a government report said on Wednesday.

*Middleeast Monitor