Regional LNG: Jordan signs contracts for building natural gas pipeline

Jordan signed contracts on Sunday for the construction of a pipeline that will carry natural gas from the southern tip to the north of the country, Dow Jones Wires reported from Amman on Monday.

Jordanian Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez hosted his Egyptian, Syrian and Lebanese counterparts at the signing ceremony. After further extensions, the pipeline will carry Egyptian natural gas to Syria and Lebanon.

The five agreements signed on Sunday dealt with the second phase of the international pipeline: the 370-kilometer connection from Jordan's southern port of Aqaba to Rihab, a town north of the capital Amman.

In the first phase, which was completed in July, the pipeline was laid from Egypt's Mediterranean natural gas fields to the Red Sea and underwater to Aqaba.

In the third phase, which is expected to begin in 2005, the pipeline will be extended to Syria and Lebanon. There is a plan for it to run to Turkey and ultimately link up with supplies to Europe.

Under the Arab Gas Pipeline Project signed in 2001, Egypt is to supply Jordan, Lebanon and Syria with natural gas for 30 years. From Egypt to Lebanon, the pipeline is projected to cost $930 million.

Egypt has potential natural gas reserves of 70 trillion cubic feet. It is expected to become one of the world's top 10 natural gas exporters in the next four years. (*)