Will Israel return gas purchased from Egypt? The Egyptian newspaper al Shaab reported Tuesday that the Egyptian government wishes to purchase back 1.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas which it sold to Israel .
According to a contract between Jerusalem and Ankara, Egypt issupposed to provide Israel with a total of 7 bcm of natural gas.
The report states that Egypt plans on buying back the gas for a higher price than agreed with Israel and this way prevent it from being transferred to Israel through the EMG company.
Israel's Merhav group, a partner in EMG, denied the report categorically. "The whole story, from start to finish is, utterly baseless. The Israeli and Egyptian governments agreed as part of the peace accord that Egypt will provide Israel with 7 bcm of natural gas per year, for 20 years."
A source in the energy industry who is in contact with Egyptian elements said that he was told by them that their country "has respected all of its energetic commitments to Israel for the past 30 years and that it intends to continue doing so."
It should be noted that Egypt's EMG company has contracts for the supply of 4 bcm of gas and is negotiating additional supply with Israeli firms.
The gas agreement between Israel and Egypt is also based on political contracts and thus far Cairo has met its commitments, despite several technical malfunctions.
Nevertheless, Egyptian opposition groups have been trying to undermine the deals and have issued legal and political campaigns against them in recent years.
Local courts have supported President Hosni Mubarak in the legal arena. The current battle was launched following an electricity shortage suffered in the country amid high temperatures and the month of Ramadan.