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Landowners waiting for next step in Jordan-Israel gas pipeline

Members of the Jordanian Bar Association are readying lawsuits to challenge land expropriations for the construction of a pipeline for natural gas from Israel's Leviathan field.
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AMMAN — Farmers and others owning land near Jordan's northwestern border with Israel are waiting for the go-ahead for land expropriations to begin in clearing the way for the laying of a natural gas pipeline. The pending expropriations stem from an agreement signed in September 2016 between the National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) and Noble Energy, a US company that won the concession to exploit Israel’s Leviathan gas field in the eastern Mediterranean. Under the agreement, Israel will supply Jordan with 45 billion cubic meters of gas from the field over a period of 15 years at a cost of $10 billion.

As required by Expropriation Law no. 12 (1987), the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources published an announcement in daily newspapers on Jan. 24 notifying the public of its intention to request that the Council of Ministers grant the authority to expropriate land for the pipeline. The announcement included the names of the hundreds of landowners whose property would be expropriated “to install a natural gas pipeline from the supply station on the Jordanian border near the Al-Sheikh Hussein crossing to the connecting point with the Arab natural gas pipeline in the Khanasri region in Mafraq governorate.” The government will also rent an additional 10 meters on either side of the pipeline during the two-year installation period for works and facilities. After work is completed, the two-year rents will end.

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