Egyptian security officials have arrested a man in connection with the repeated attacks on the pipeline feeding gas to Israel and Jordan, the official MENA news agency reported on Tuesday. According to the report, the suspect is a 20-year-old man who “is among the perpetrators of an attack on a police station in the north Sinai town of El-Arish in July, and an explosion at the natural gas pipeline,” MENA said in its report. The pipeline, which carries gas through the Sinai and on to Israel and Jordan, has been attacked ten times this year. The last attack took place on December 18 , but may not have been as successful as the previous attack. Egyptian officials said that it did not appear that any of the precious resource was leaking from the pipeline. The previous attack on the pipeline took place just three weeks before the tenth attack. Egyptian authorities have repeatedly pledged to re-enforce security measures to protect the installations, AFP reported. Israel purchases approximately 40 percent of its natural gas supplies from Egypt at present. However, it is expected that gas fields discovered off Israel's northern coastline will be able to supply the Jewish State with its energy needs within another two years.
