Jordan: Egypt to resume gas supplies within 10 days

Energy-poor Jordan said on Wednesday that gas supplies from Egypt will resume within 10 days following sabotage to the export pipeline by militants in the Sinai Peninsula. "The Egyptian authorities are expected to resume gas supplies to Jordan in a week or 10 days," Jordanian Energy Minister Malek Kabariti told state-run Petra news agency after a cabinet meeting. "The interruption of gas supplies creates a lot of losses for the kingdom's national electricity company," he said without giving further details. Egyptian gas covers 80 percent of electricity generation in Jordan, which imports 95 percent of its energy needs. Militants blew up the pipeline on Sunday near the North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish, scene of major disturbances since Egyptian Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was overthrown by the military last Wednesday. Since the overthrow of veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising in early 2011, militants in the Sinai have repeatedly sabotaged the pipeline, which also supplies Israel. But Sunday's bombing was the first reported in almost a year.