Egypt has frozen talks on gas imports from Israel after an arbitration ruling to pay IEC $1.8 billion compensation.
Israel's Minister of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz has responded to Egypt's decision to freeze talks to buy natural gas from Israel after the ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration awarding Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) $1.8 billion in compensation for the halt in the supply of gas from Egypt in 2011. Steinitz said, "Whatever happens, Israel must rapidly develop the gas fields that it has discovered to ultimately achieve a reasonable degree of energy independence. So we will continue moving forward with energy export options, not only with Egypt but other countries in the region such as Jordan, Greece and Turkey and even countries in Western Europe."
He also said, "The State of Israel sees major importance with overall defense, economic and energy relations with Egypt and hopes that through close bilateral relations, we can continue moving forward on the subject of gas, in the short term."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 7, 2015
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