Egyptian gas to Jordan halted due to pipeline blast

An explosion damaged a gas pipeline from Egypt to Jordan on Monday evening which halted Egyptian gas imports, a Jordanian government official said. Minister of energy Qutaiba Abu Qoura said the blast, the 13th within a year, took place in an area in the north of Sinai which caused complete halt of gas imports. He said Jordan was in contact with the Egyptian authorities to assess damage done to the pipeline, and the time needed to restore import of gas, which is used to generate around 80 percent of Jordan\'s electricity needs. The pipeline supplying Jordan with the Egyptian gas has been subjected to many attacks since the revolution in Egypt last year, forcing Jordan to use diesel and heavy oil to generate electricity which caused USD 1.4 billion in losses for the Amman government. Jordan imported USD five billion to cover 97 percent of its energy needs last year.