Israel fears Egypt unrest will threaten gas supplies

Israel expressed concern today that its natural gas supplies from Egypt could be threatened by the ongoing popular uprising to oust President Hosni Mubarak.

"We again realise that the Middle East is not a stable region. We must act to ensure our energy security without relying on others," a spokesman for Israel's National infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau told AFP.

Egypt currently supplies about 40 per cent of Israel's natural gas, and in December, four Israeli firms signed 20-year contracts worth up to $10 billion (7.4 billion euros) to import Egyptian gas.

But with Egypt's political future uncertain, Israel is concerned that a new regime in Cairo might not respect the bilateral peace treaty signed three decades ago -- and with it, the crucial energy supplies.

This feeling was heightened after leaders of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood called for Cairo to stop supplying Israel with gas.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed concern that well-organised Islamic groups could exploit chaos in Egypt to seize power.

Landau yesterday summoned the heads of Israeli companies that are developing Israel's Tamar gas field -- due to start production in 2013 -- to urge them to push ahead with its timely development, his office said.

Landau told them Tamar's importance was even greater "in these times of unrest in our region." The Tamar fields, off the port of Haifa in northern Israel, holds reserves estimated at eight billion cubic metres.

The Globes financial newspaper reported today that Landau's ministry had conducted exercises dealing with emergency scenarios in which gas supplies were cut off. It gave no further details.