EGYPT, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan signed a billion-dollar deal on Sunday for the transport and sale of natural gas between the four countries. The agreement stipulates the creation of two companies. One, which will be called Orient Company, will build gas pipelines across the Mediterranean to transport initially some 12m cubic metres of natural gas per day from the Egyptian coastal city of El Arish to the Lebanese northern port of Tripoli. The 400km long undersea pipeline is expected to be built in three to four years. The second entity, the Arab Company, will construct a gas pipeline between Tripoli in north Lebanon and Syria and eventually pipelines to re-export the gas to countries in the region, such as Jordan and Turkey, and unspecified European states. The deaL is estimated to be worth one billion dollars.-AFP