Jordan said Thursday it will seek help from "brotherly and friendly" countries to cope with its energy needs after Egyptian gas supplies came to a halt following an attack on a Sinai pipeline.
"The Council of Ministers decided to contact brotherly and friendly states to provide Jordan with needed supplies of heavy fuel and diesel," the state-run Petra news agency reported. "It discussed ways of finding alternative energy sources, as well as measures to ration electricity and fuel use."
Energy Minister Khaled Tuqan on Thursday confirmed that Egypt's gas supplies had been halted after the attack, which took place at dawn near the village of Al-Sabil in the El-Arish region.
Jordan, which imports about 240 million cubic feet (6.8 million cubic metres) of Egyptian gas a day, or 80 per cent of its electricity needs, "has enough supplies of heavy fuel and diesel for two weeks," he said.
Affecting also Israel, the new attack is expected to cost Jordan $3.5 million (2.4 million Euros) a day, officials said.
The pipeline was previously sabotaged on 5 February, six days before former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was forced to resign amid a popular uprising.
Supplies of gas to Israel and Jordan from that attack resumed on 16 March.
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