May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Egypt began supplying natural gas to Israel yesterday through a sub-sea pipeline, newspaper al-Masry al-Youm reported, citing a statement from Israel Electric Corp.

In August 2005, Israel Electric signed an accord with East Mediterranean Gas Pipeline Co. for 1.7 billion cubic meters of gas a year over 15 years. Egyptian and Israeli investors and Thailand's PTT Pcl own East Mediterranean, which buys the gas from Egypt.

In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel, which depends almost entirely on imports for its petroleum requirements.