Jordan's parliament calls for terminating agreement to import Israeli gas

AMMAN, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Jordan's parliament on Tuesday called for terminating an Agreement to buy natural gas from Israel, the state-run Petra news agency reported.

During a session on Tuesday to discuss the deal, lawmaker Safa Momani said it was unacceptable that the government goes ahead with the deal with the "Zionist entity."

Tareq Khouri, a member of the lower house, said if the government was unable to terminate the Agreement, it should refer it to parliament for approval.

The legislators said the Agreement will only benefit Israel, adding Jordan, as part of its support for Palestine and in rejection of Israeli aggressions, should end the deal.

In 2016, Jordan signed an Agreement with U.S. Noble Energy, the main control holder of Israel's Leviathan gas field, to import natural gas.

Jordan's state-run National Electric Power Company said the deal will meet 40 percent of the country's gas needs and save about 600 million U.S. dollars every year.

Under the Agreement, Noble Energy will provide 15 billion U.S. dollars worth of gas to Jordan for a period of 15 years, or 300 million cubic feet on a daily basis.

Figures show Jordan imports about 97 percent of its energy needs.

Several nationwide protests were staged over the past year in rejection of the Agreement.