Egypt installs warning system for gas

Press reports published here on Monday said that the Egyptian authorities have installed an early warning system to protect gas pipelines in the Sinai Peninsula after a wave of attacks that hit the pipeline of late and stopped gas supplies to each of Jordan and Israel. The Egyptian independent newspaper /Al Masry Al Youm / quoted the head of the governmental Egyptian Company for Natural Gas, Magdi Tawfiq as saying here today that security was being tightened for the pipelines, which extend for more than 190 kilometres across Sinai. The pipelines, that carry supplies to Israel and Jordan, have been the target of six attacks since a popular uprising unseated former president HosnI Mubarak in February. "The pipelines are now operating partially," said Tawfiq. "Parts of them damaged by the attacks are currently being repaired," he added. Gas exports to Israel are unpopular in Egypt, which was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with it in 1979. The Egyptian gas is exported under a 15-year deal signed in 2008 with Israel giving it preferential terms. Egyptian officials have tried to amend the deal since Mubarak''s ouster and jordan has of late agreed on the amendment and purchase the gas as per a new price.