Two Egyptian gas companies will pay a sum of $1.76 billion dollars to the Israeli Electric Company (IEC), the International Chamber of Commerce ruled Sunday, for damages incurred as a result of failures to transfer gas from Egypt to Israel.
In 2011, Egyptian gas companies EGPC and EGAS stopped providing gas to Israel due to a series of pipeline bombings in the Sinai peninsula.
The explosions – the work of terror groups – caused the IEC to turn to more expensive fuels to make up for the loss, and increased the price of electricity to the general public by 30% to make up for costs.
In 2012, following severe losses, the IEC Board filed a lawsuit against both companies with international arbitration, claiming the stopped pipeline violated a 2009 agreement; the Egyptian companies claimed that the contract had not been breached, as the pipeline had been damaged by a third party.
On Sunday, after four years of arbitration, the International Chamber of Commerce ruled in Israel’s favor, with Egypt to pay the IEC the original $1.76 billion cost plus interest to be calculated upon a system agreed between all parties.
This marks a rare victory for the IEC, which is already suffering more recent losses from the massive debt Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have owed Israel over the past two years – debt which has only partially been settled and has, at times, led the IEC to cut off electricity to Palestinian Arabs.