Jordan said on Saturday gas supplies from Egypt were expected to remain halted for one week after a blast hit a pipeline that supplies Israel and Jordan.

An energy source told Reuters that Jordan had switched power stations as a precautionary step to burning fuel oil and diesel, after the suspension of the Egyptian gas supplies that generate 80 percent most of the kingdom's electricity needs.

The head of Jordan's national electricity company Ghaleb al-Maabara told the state news agency Petra the Egyptian side had notified Amman that the rupture in gas supplies was expected to last for a week until the pipeline was repaired.

Saboteurs blew up the pipeline that runs through Egypt's North Sinai, Egyptian state television said earlier, after Islamist groups called on militants to exploit unrest that has rocked the government. – Reuters