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EGYPT-MILITANTS-GAS-ISRAEL-SINAI
Militants hit gas pipeline in Egypt’s Sinai: security sources
CAIRO, Feb 3, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Militants blew up a gas pipeline Sunday in
Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula, security sources said.
The masked gunmen drove a four-wheel drive before detonating explosives in
the attack, carried out around 80 kilometers west of the provincial capital
El-Arish, the sources told AFP.
No casualties or injuries have so far been reported and no group has
claimed responsibility.
According to sources, the gas pipeline hit was a domestic one that connects
to a power station in El-Arish, powering homes and factories in central
Sinai.
Some media reports in Egypt and Israel however said the section of pipeline
hit was part of Israel’s Leviathan offshore field that connects the two
countries — claims denied to AFP by the Leviathan consortium.
Israel began pumping natural gas to Egypt for the first time earlier this
month under a $15 billion, 15-year landmark deal deal to liquefy it and re-
export it to Europe.
The Islamic State group last week encouraged its fighters to launch “a new
phase” and vowed major operations against Israel.
Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry did not react to a request for comment.
One of the two offshore fields managed by Israeli and American firms in the
deal, Leviathan is estimated to hold 535 billion cubic metres (18.9 trillion
cubic feet) of natural gas, along with 34.1 million barrels of condensate.
Egypt has previously exported gas to Israel but land sections of the export
pipeline were targeted multiple times by Sinai militants in 2011 and 2012.
It hopes the recently inked deal will position it to become a regional gas
hub.
The country has for years been fighting a hardened insurgency in North
Sinai that escalated after the military’s 2013 ouster of Islamist president
Mohamed Morsi following mass protests.
In February 2018, the army and police launched a nationwide operation
against militants focused on North Sinai.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0929 hrs