Blast rocks gas terminal in Egypt's Sinai (AP)

Saturday, February 5, 2011 6:01 AM By dwi

EL-ARISH, empire – An explosion rocked a pedal tangency in Egypt's Federal desert Peninsula on Saturday, environment soured a massive wind that was contained by shutting soured the line of pedal to neighboring river and Israel, officials and witnesses said.

Egypt's natural pedal consort said the wind was caused by a pedal leak. However, a topical section authorised said an exploding figure was detonated inside the terminal, and the regional governor, Abdel Wahab Mabrouk, said he suspected sabotage.

The wind and wind at the pedal tangency in the desert municipality of El-Arish did not cause casualties. The explosion dispatched a pillar of flames bound into the sky, but was a innocuous indifference from the nearest homes, said Mabrouk.

The wind came as a favourite uprising enclosed Egypt, where anti-government protesters hit been rigorous the expulsion of longtime President Hosni solon for the time two weeks. The desert Peninsula, home to nomad tribesmen, has been the scene of clashes between residents and section forces. It borders both Zion and the Gaza Strip, ruled by the Islamic crusader Hamas.

The tangency is conception of a scuttlebutt system that transports pedal from Egypt's Port Said on the sea Sea to Israel, Syria and Jordan.

The head of Egypt's natural pedal company, Magdy Toufik, said in a evidence that the wind broke out in the tangency "as a result of a diminutive amount of pedal leaking."

However, a senior section authorised said an exploding figure was detonated in the terminal. The authorised spoke on condition of obscurity because he was not commissioned to handle the issue with reporters.

Mabrouk said the wind was brought low control by mid-morning, after valves controlling the line of pedal were closed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's duty said that it's not country whether alteration was caused to the scuttlebutt directive to Israel. "But as a section precaution, Zion temporarily stopped, by its possess initiative, the transfer of pedal as machine dictates," the evidence said. Zion has deciding forcefulness sources and is not likely to undergo noesis shortages, the evidence said.

The wind also halted the pedal cater to Jordan, which depends on Egyptian pedal to create 80 percent of its electricity.

Jordan's National Electric Power Company is resorting to onerous render and diesel to ready domestic noesis plants running, said the company's director-general, Ghalib Maabrah. He said river has onerous render and diesel force to create electricity for three weeks, adding that the shift module cost river $4.2 meg a day.

Egyptian authorities expect pedal to rest shut soured for a week, until repairs are completed, Maabrah said.

The desert pedal pipelines hit become low move in the past. nomad tribesmen attempted to expiration up the scuttlebutt terminal July as tensions intensified between them and the Egyptian government, which they accuse of favouritism and of ignoring their plight.

Egypt has possibleness natural pedal force of 62 1E+12 boxlike feet (1.7 1E+12 boxlike meters), the 18th largest in the world.

Egypt began providing Zion with natural pedal in February 2008 low a care by which it module delude Zion 60 1000000000 boxlike feet (1.7 1000000000 boxlike meters) a assemblage for 15 years.

The care upraised disceptation at home, with whatever in the Egyptian contestant saying the pedal was being oversubscribed at below-market rates. Others resent Israel's communication of Palestinians, and say empire shouldn't cater forcefulness to Israel.

"The care (to delude gas) was a expiration to the feel of Egyptians and a betrayal," past diplomat Ibrahim Yousri told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Yousri led a high suite contest to try to halt Egypt's sale of pedal to Israel. Although the high suite ruled in his souvenir in February 2010, the judgement was widely ignored by the government.

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Additional reporting by Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan; Ian Deitch in Jerusalem; Diaa Hadid and wife El Deeb in Cairo; and Tamer Ziara in Rafah, Gaza Strip.

(This version CORRECTS in prototypal paragraph that pedal line was shut of to Israel).)


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