The Kingdom of Jordan’s National Electricity Company (NEPCO) said on Wednesday that the country had begun to receive natural gas from Israel’s Leviathan offshore field, Reuters reported.
“The experimental pumping will continue for three months under the technical and contractual terms between the two sides,” NEPCO said in a statement.
Following the three-month infrastructure test, full-scale commercial supply is expected to begin.
According to the terms of the $10 billion deal Jordan reached in 2016 with U.S.-based Noble Energy, the kingdom will be supplied with gas from the Leviathan field for a period of 15 years.
Many in Jordan oppose the deal because they view Israel as the enemy.
The Islamic Action Front, Jordan’s main opposition party, said in a statement: “It’s a black day in the history of Jordan, a crime against the nation and a national catastrophe that makes our sovereignty hostage and [puts our] energy sector in the hands of the Zionist occupation,” according to Reuters.