BY RUISHA QIAN

 

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

An Egyptian gas pipeline is hit by an explosion, halting exports to Israel and Jordan.
And it’s not the first time.
In fact -- it’s the seventh.
Al Arabiya reports...

“A gas pipeline in Northern Sinai connecting Egypt, Israel and Jordan was blown up by alleged saboteurs on Thursday. According to Egyptian security, the blast was the result of remote-controlled bombs.”

Those seven attacks on the pipeline have all occurred since the uprising that toppled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in February.
Authorities blame the incidents on activists protesting against gas exports to Israel.
The Global Post says...

“The gas deal between Cairo and Tel Aviv, first signed during the Mubarak era, has been widely criticized in Egypt... Many Egyptians believe that the deal led to unregulated profits and corruption for members of the former regime, including Mubarak.”

A regional politics expert tells Bloomberg the pipeline bombings have a big impact on Egypt...

“The continual pipeline bombings are going to make both Israel and Jordan think more seriously about diversifying their energy supplies, since the Egyptian gas is now clearly an unreliable source... Most of all, it hurts Egypt itself. It’s in terrible economic shape, and a loss of gas revenue doesn’t help.”

Arutz Shiva agrees, noting Jordan and Israel are cutting their dependence on Egyptian gas.

“Jordan could no longer afford the Egyptian outages, and that the economy was losing some $2 million a day due to the stoppages. Jordan...has been slowly cutting its dependence on Egyptian gas, and has begun buying more oil and and diesel fuel for use in power plants, even thought it is more expensive than Sinai gas... Eventually, Israel will have locally-developed alternatives to Egyptian gas, as the fields off Israel's coast are developed. “

Africasia says Egyptian authorities have announced measures to tighten security measures along the pipeline as police try to arrest those behind the attacks.