The Times of Israel for Friday, September 5 2014, has two related articles that give a clue as to how Israel and its gas clients view proposed sales to Jordan.
Israel-Jordan gas deal a bulwark against Jihadis: expert
Jordanian minister downplays Israeli role in large gas deal
The first article (Israel-Jordan) has a "feel good" top that states Top security official says the $15 billion sale of Israeli natural gas could bolster regimes in Jordan and Egypt
The second article (Jordanian minister) tells how this will play in Jordan: Mohammad Hamed says US firm Noble Energy will be supplier, though resources will be from Israeli field.
Maybe it's better that way; if the jihadists want to stir up trouble - OK, even more trouble - for Israel they can claim the money-hungry Jews are charging Jordan and Egypt exorbinate prices even if the prices are at or below the market price (and probably lower than what Israel Electric Corp will be paying in Israel).
Israel already has a deal to sell to the "Palestinians" even though they are notorious for not paying their bills.
Israel-Jordan gas deal a bulwark against Jihadis: expert
The agreement to sell Jordan natural gas worth $15 billion over the next 15 years is the third leg of a trilateral regional arrangement designed to shore up relations between Jerusalem, Amman and Cairo – and to ensure the survival of the regimes in two Arab nations, according to Brig. Gen. (Res.) Nitzan Nuriel, research associate at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, IDC Herzliya. “Israel will produce the gas, Egypt will liquefy it, and Jordan will benefit from it, along with Egypt and Israel,” said Nuriel. “The people in all three countries will be very happy to have a secure supply of energy at a reasonable price.”
“Of course they (Jordan) are free to back out of this gas deal, but they know that this is the best alternative for them. Israel is not going to play politics with the gas the way some Gulf states have tried to, and they know this. With Israel, a contract is a contract, and the secure supply of energy at a reasonable price will help people ‘forget’ where it came from.”
In June, Israel signed a deal with Egypt to transfer gas there, where it will be liquefied, and then shipped back to Israel – and now to Jordan as well – for use in electrical plants. “For the first time, all three countries will have a safe, assured, and cheap supply of electricity,” said Nuriel. “Israelis will benefit, of course, but in Jordan and Egypt – both countries with large impoverished populations – the gas deal will be a solid, measurable metric of the benefits of peace and regional cooperation. That will help boost the regimes in the eyes of the masses, and strengthen both Egyptian President el-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah in their own struggle against Islamist insurgents.”
No one seemed to address the question of the transmission lines' security and protection from Islamists and, sadly, extremist Israelis.
While it might help the incumbents in Egypt and Jordan, as long as the facts that (a) the gas is from Israeli off-shore fields and (b) the deal, Noble Energy not withstanding, still is between Israel and its neighbors on the other side of Israel's two quite borders.
What the deal probably does NOT do is put Israel in a good light to Egyptian and Jordanian citizens. They won't be told the gas is from Israel and transferred via Israel (in Egypt's case, from Israel to Egypt where the gas will be converted, then back to Israel and hence to Jordan. Egypt also may convert Israeli gas for distribution elsewhere - adding cash to Egypt's coffers for its service.)
They also won't see any direct impact (except perhaps lower electric bills). At this point, the intent is to use the gas to fuel electrical generating plants.
Jordanian minister downplays Israeli role in large gas deal
Doing what Muslims seem to do best - deny reality when it is in front of them, the Times writes that Rebuffing suggestions of improved ties with Israel, Jordan’s Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Mohammad Hamed noted Thursday that an estimated $15 billion gas deal announced Wednesday is not between the Israeli and Jordanian governments, but was rather forged between the Hashemite kingdom’s electric company and the US Noble Energy group.
On Wednesday, representatives from Israel’s Delek Group Ltd. and the US Nobel Energy Inc. company signed a memorandum of understanding in Amman, under which it agreed to supply the Hashemite Kingdom with $15 billion worth of natural gas from its Leviathan energy field over a decade and a half.
Israel decided last year to export 40 percent of the country’s offshore gas finds, and has since signed a 20-year, $1.2 billion deal with a Palestinian firm, and in June signed a letter of intent to supply energy to an Egyptian facility as well.
According to the Middle East Institute,
In January 2014 Israel signed its first natural gas export deal through which the Palestinian Power Generation Company (PPGC), the Palestinian Authority’s electric utility company, will purchase $1.2 billion worth of Israeli natural gas over a 20-year period. The gas will be shipped to a $300 million power plant that PPGC plans to build in the West Bank city of Jenin, with gas sales scheduled to commence in 2016 or 2017 when the Leviathan field will begin producing.
The deal could reduce Palestinian dependence on Israel’s electric grid, through which Palestinian energy needs are currently met. Under the existing arrangements, the Palestinian Authority has accrued a sizeable debt to the Israeli Electric Company due to habitual missed payments.
While the deal will not ease the West Bank’s heavy reliance on foreign energy, it has motivated the construction of a substantial Palestinian power plant, which should allow Palestinians to produce their own electricity, increase their capacity to manage energy, create jobs in the West Bank, and provide the basis from which to launch future energy partnerships.
Again, the "Israeli connection" will not be known to the average Jordanian, Egyptian, or "Palestinian", just as the amount of Israeli medical care is a closely guarded secret in the territories. If the people ever learn the truth, the Islamists would have to pack up and go home - wherever that might be (England, the US, France, Germany?).
