Egypt to pay Israeli firms $3bn after losing appeal

Egyptian energy companies will pay an estimated $3 billion to two Israeli energy firms in compensation for losses that occurred after Cairo abruptly cut supplies of natural gas to Israel in 2012.

This follows a Swiss court's rejection of an appeal by two Egyptian firms against an earlier compensation order made in 2016.

The payout relates to a 20-year energy supply agreement between Egypt and Israel that collapsed in 2012 after several attacks on pipelines delivering gas to Israel by militants.

Following the deal's failure, an international court in 2016 ruled that Egyptian Natural Gas and Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation should pay around $2 billion in compensation because the state-owned Israel Electric Corporation was forced to fuel its generators at a higher expense.

The Swiss court's decision comes three weeks after another case relating to the failed gas supply was settled.

In the other case, arbiters in Cairo accepted claims filed by EMG, the company that operated and laid the pipeline.

Egyptian companies had initially sued EMG for hundreds of millions of dollars for failing to pay for gas that had been supplied. EMG later countersued and asked for $3.56 billion in damages from the Egyptian firms for unlawfully cancelling the contract.

According to market sources cited by Haaretz, EMG is looking to secure around $1 billion in compensation following the arbitration panel's rejection of some of their claims.

The outcomes of the two cases brings the total compensation bill to be footed by the Egyptian firms to almost $3 billion.