WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden met Jordan’s King Abdullah at the White House on Monday, coming face-to-face with a longtime ally who has been vocal in calling for a Gaza ceasefire.
Biden greeted the king warmly on arrival at the White House. The two leaders proceeded inside the residence for their discussions. They were to make statements to the news media later.
The meeting came as Biden has become increasingly vocal in his demand that Israel not undertake a ground offensive in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah without a plan to protect Palestinian civilians who are massed there.
Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, and the White House said he stressed that “a military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the more than one million people sheltering there.”
Before embarking on a tour of Western capitals, Abdullah participated in an airdrop of humanitarian aid to Gaza, a move that highlighted his kingdom’s role in pushing Israel to stop restricting efforts to help fend off illness, hunger and starvation in the war-torn enclave.
The king, who has been vocal in calling for an end to Israel’s campaign, is expected to urge Biden to support an immediate ceasefire.
Biden’s team has been trying to negotiate a pause in the fighting in order to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas since the Palestinian militant group that governs Gaza launched an attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people. Palestinian health officials estimate that more than 28,000 people in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s offensive against Hamas fighters.
A senior Biden administration official told reporters on Sunday that Biden’s meeting with the king would focus on ending the war in Gaza.
Biden meets Jordan’s king, who wants Gaza ceasefire
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Biden meets Jordan’s king, who wants Gaza ceasefire
- Biden increasingly vocal in his demand that Israel not undertake a ground offensive in Rafah without plan to protect Palestinians
Philippines discovers new gas deposit to boost depleted reserves
- Source near Malampaya field believed to contain 2.8 billion cubic meters of gas
- It will not take much time to access the gas, expert says, as infrastructure is ready
MANILA: The Philippines on Monday announced a new natural gas discovery, with the reservoir near the country’s largest offshore site estimated to be enough to power about 5.7 million households per year.
About 2.8 billion cubic meters (98 billion cubic feet) of gas were found 5km east of the Malampaya field near the island of Palawan, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a Facebook video.
“This is equivalent to nearly 14 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. That means it could supply power to more than 5.7 million households, 9,500 buildings, or nearly 200,000 schools,” Marcos said.
“This helps Malampaya’s contribution and strengthens our domestic gas supply for many years to come. Initial testing showed that the well flowed at 60 million cubic feet (1.7 million cubic meters) per day.”
Malampaya, discovered in 1989 and operational since 2001, is the Philippines’ most important natural gas field, located off the west coast of Palawan Island. It is also a key part of the country’s energy infrastructure.
It supplies natural gas for electricity generation in Luzon, the main island of the Philippines, powering several major plants.
Prime Energy Resources Development, which manages the Malampaya project, said in a statement that the new reservoir, Malampaya East-1, was discovered by a “a fully Filipino-led team, reflecting the country’s growing capability in upstream energy development.”
Prime Energy’s well data indicate that Malampaya East-1 volumes are equivalent to about one-third of the remaining producible gas volumes at the original Malampaya.
Against the backdrop of Malampaya’s decline, it will help to secure the country’s gas supplies. It will also keep operational the expensive infrastructure that was installed to operate the legacy field.
“The original Malampaya was like 2.3 trillion cubic feet, so it’s like 4 percent of the original find. I still think that is significant in light of the decline of the Malampaya gas field,” said Alberto Dalusung III, energy transition adviser at the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities.
The new gas discovery benefits from ready access to processing facilities such as the 504 km undersea pipeline that was built for Malampaya, which will make it available sooner.
Dalusung estimated it would take up to two years for Filipino consumers to benefit from the new resources.
“The infrastructure is already there,” he said. “You don’t have to build the pipeline. All you have to do is find new gas resources, which we did.”
