CAIRO TO APPEAL $1.76BN GAS COMPENSATION RULING FOR ISRAEL

Cairo, 25 Shafar 1437/7 December (MINA) –  Egypt said Sunday that it would file an appeal against an order by international arbitrators to pay Israel $1.76 billion in compensation for halting the supply of gas to the Jewish state three years ago.

Israel Electric Corporation, Israel’s state-owned electricity utility, said earlier that international arbitrators had awarded it $1.76 billion in damages — plus interest — for the abrupt halt of gas supplies from Egypt in 2012, Anadolu Agency reports as quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

In a statement, however, EGPC and EGAS — Egypt’s oil and gas import authorities — vowed to “take all legal measures to appeal this verdict before the Swiss courts”.

The two state-owned firms said they had been instructed by the Egyptian government “to suspend negotiations with [Israeli] companies over the import of gas from Israel and the award of any import approvals until the legal situation regarding the arbitration ruling and the results of the appeal are clarified”.

Egypt halted gas supplies to Israel in 2012 following a series of militant attacks on a gas pipeline that runs across the volatile Sinai Peninsula.

Israel Electric Corporation, for its part, says it sustained heavy losses due to the abrupt suspension of gas supplies and has sued the two Egyptian providers for $4 billion in damages. (T/P010/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)