Business ruled the airwaves last night. Dolphinus Holdings’ USD 15 bn natural gas import agreement with Israel’s Delek Drilling and Noble Energy dominated the debate, causing a stir that had Oil Minister Tarek El Molla calling up the nation’s talking heads all night to explain how the deregulation of the natural gas industry will work.

Talking point number one: A pending arbitration award against Egypt in favor of Israel will be resolved before any natural gas is actually imported, especially since the agreement is still pending regulatory approval, El Molla told Lamees Al Hadidi on Hona Al Asema. He said that while the Oil Ministry does not have full details on the agreement, there’s no in-principle objection. The transaction will help Egypt become a regional energy hub, the minister noted, adding that achieving self-sufficiency on natural gas does not mean the end of imports.

Talking point number two: The agreement will benefit the Egyptian economy, El Molla said. He explained that not only will natural gas importers pay the state to use its infrastructure for transport and distribution, but that imports will bring idle liquefaction plants back into service. The Israeli gas could serve both domestic demand and exports, he noted. (watch, runtime: 56:16).

Talking point number three: The Natural Gas Act has opened the market up to the private sector, El Molla told Amr Adib on Kol Youm. The government has blessed the agreement but is not party to it, El Molla told a perturbed Adib, who was made anxious by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he said implied in his speech yesterday that the agreement was struck between the governments of Israel and Egypt (watch, runtime: 25:22).

El Molla also spoke to Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary (watch, runtime: 9:02).

The business community welcomed the agreement. The head of the Union of Egyptian Gas Investors, Mohamed Saad El Din, told Adib that importing gas from Israel will help turn Egypt into a hub for processing and liquefaction (watch, runtime: 3:27).

The agreement is expected to come into effect in 10-12 months’ time, unnamed sources told Yahduth fi Masr’s Sherif Amer (watch, runtime: 10:00).

Back on Hona Al Asema, Lamees spoke to former oil minister Osama Kamal, who had to downplay the notion that the import agreement is a back door to “normalization with Israel.” Politics play no part in an agreement that is fundamentally good for the economy, Kamal added (watch, runtime: 4:36).

You’re better and smarter than that, Lamees: Hadidi wondered whether Egyptians would be okay with using Israeli natural gas.

From the tinfoil hat, anti- “normalization” camp, we have Rep. Mohamed Badrawy, who thinks not. An angry Badrawy said a pact of this size should not have been made with Israel, adding that it was unnecessary since Egypt is moving towards self-sufficiency. He said the House representatives are planning to submit an official inquiry to the government (watch, runtime: 5:40).

Meanwhile on Masaa DMC, El Hosary interviewed EGX deputy head Mohsen Adel (watch, runtime: 3:42) and phoned Finance Minister Amr El Garhy to discuss IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde’s most recent props for Egypt’s progress on economic reform (watch, runtime: 5:09)