Israel close to first gas export deal

Sources close to the deal report an agreement in principle has been reached for the Israel-US consortium developing Israel’s offshore fields to supply gas to the Arab Potash Co, a fertilizer company with a plant in Jordan. The contract would involve running a gas pipeline from an Israeli chemical plant near Beersheba to APC in Jordan across the Dead Sea. Former Israeli ambassador to Amman Oded Eran said an agreement is “very close.” DEBKAfile: This transaction, Israel’s first with an Arab country, follows on the Israel-Jordanian contract signed in Washington last week for piping Red Sea water to the Dead Sea and the construction of a water desalination plant in Jordan.