Israel, Jordan Sign Natural Gas Deal

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Jordan signed an agreement Wednesday to purchase $500 million worth of natural gas from Israel's Tamar offshore field.

The 15-year contract, which begins in 2016, has the potential to expand to a multi-billion dollar deal that would make Israel the Hashemite Kingdom's major supplier of natural gas. Jordan uses natural gas to fuel its power plants.

Before the downfall of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, Egypt supplied natural gas to Jordan and Israel.

Not long after Mubarak's ouster, Islamist terror cells began systematically blowing up the gas pipeline, cutting off supplies to both countries.

A second and potentially bigger natural gas field, Leviathan, is also expected to come online in 2016.

In 2012, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Cypriot President Demetris Christofias to discuss developing the large natural gas deposit discovered off the coast of Cyprus.

Christofias envisions contributing substantially to the European Union's energy needs.

Turkey, which has occupied the northern part of the island since 1974, scoffed at the meeting, warning it would take "all necessary measures" to protect its interests.