Palestinian-Egyptian agreement on developing Gaza gas field imminent: sources

Senior Palestinian officials said on Tuesday that the Palestine Investment Fund will sign a technical agreement with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) to develop the "Gaza Marine" field off the shores of the Gaza Strip.

Speaking to The New Arab, a Ramallah-based Palestinian source, who preferred to be unnamed, said, "the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority and the Egyptian company are supposed to the sign the agreement before the end of this year." 

"The technical agreement will define the distribution of shares to the partners and how to market gas," the source noted.

The Palestine Investment Fund owns 27.5% of the field, and the Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) owns the same share, while the remaining 45% will be for the operating company, with Egypt hoping to get the 45% amount, the source added. 

In a bid to succeed in the agreement, Egypt held several "secret meetings" with Israeli officials to receive a green light to begin implementing their project with the PA on the ground, according to the source. 

So far, Israel has not provided its approval, pending it gets guarantees that Hamas will not attack its cities even amid the current "escalation" in the occupied West Bank. 

In February 2021, the Fund, CCC and EGAS signed an agreement to develop the Gaza gas field and the necessary infrastructure to provide Palestine's natural gas needs.

"After the signing of the technical framework agreement, EGAS will start the practical steps for developing the field, in preparation for extracting gas in commercial quantities 30 months after the signing of the agreement," the source said.

Palestinians have ownership over the first field that was discovered in the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the 1990s, known as "Gaza Marine."

Gas has yet to be extracted due to an Israeli rejection of Palestinian requests to exploit it.

The field is located 36 kilometres west of Gaza in the waters of the Mediterranean and was developed in 2000 by the British Gas Company "British Gas", which exited from it in favour of Royal Dutch Shell before it also left in 2018.

The reserves in the field are estimated at 1.12 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, or 32 billion cubic meters, equivalent to a production capacity of 1.5 billion cubic meters annually for a period of 20 years.

On the other hand, the Gaza-run Hamas is involved in various meetings with Egyptian officials and discussing the consequences of implementing the project for the people in Gaza. 

A Gaza-based senior Hamas official who spoke to The New Arab, under the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the Islamic movement will not prevent the PA and the Egyptians from investing in the Gaza gas field if it will benefit the Gaza economic situation. 

"I think we will see significant improvement in this agreement soon (...) all parties will gain their own benefits, including Gazans who will say goodbye to their unlimited suffering for many years," the source said. 

In turn, a few residents in Gaza expressed their hope to the rumours of an Egyptian-Palestinian agreement will be true and can improve their conditions in the besieged coastal enclave. 

"We want to live in peace, build our area and teach our children without fearing the Israeli wars," Nodal Hamada, a trader based in Gaza, told The New Arab. 

"We have to find a real political solution between all parties (Fatah, Hamas, PA, Egypt and Israel) to allow us to continue our lives normally," the 49-year-old said.