Egyptian sources in the oil and gas sector attributed this step to Cairo"s desire to use gas exports as a political bargaining chip on Israel to stop its operations in Gaza Strip.
 
Israeli firm Dorad Energies Ltd signed with Israeli Egyptian firm EMG a $2bln deal of supplying gas on December 2006 for buying natural gas from Egypt.

The company spokesman said that the contract, lasting for 15 to years, stipulates annually delivering up 1.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas, starting from 2008, pointing out that the gas price will change according to market conditions.

This came after Egyptian Oil Minister Sameh Fahmi and former Israeli Minister of Infrastructure Beniamin Ben Eliezer signed a deal about this in June 2005.