The sheikh “will meet Monday with the royal family and advisors,” the Qatar-owned Al Jazeera television news channel reported Sunday,

The news channel said it had learned of the news from “trusted sources”, but provided no further details.

“The planned meeting comes amid news about the intentions of the emir to transfer power to his heir apparent, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani,” said the Qatar-based news channel.

Sheikh Hamad came to power in a coup when he overthrew his own father Sheikh Khalifa in June 1995 while he was in Geneva, Switzerland.

He will either hand over power  to Sheikh Tamim or appoint him prime minister in the place of powerful premier Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani, according to AFP.

Tamim is the fourth son of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and the second child of the Emir with his second wife, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned.

Qatar took part in the armed intervention in Libya and is actively supporting rebel forces in Syria.

The Emir is famous for helping to establish the first Arab international news network, Al Jazeera.

Qatar holds the world’s third largest natural gas reserves and is the single largest supplier of liquefied natural gas. Qatar is also a member of OPEC and is a significant net exporter of oil.

According to the head of Noble Energy on Cyprus, John Tomic, , Field 12 of the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone might contain more than 7 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas which had been previously detected.

“We made that nice discovery of 7 tcf but we think there is a lot more potentially there and we will be looking for additional gas fields,” said Noble Energy’s Cyprus manager John Tomich in a press conference.

He said an appraisal well would be drilled within the next eight months which would help make an exact estimate of the gas reserves according to Forbes.

An Eastern Mediterranean Gas Conference would be held in Cyprus on October 26-28, 2013, to discuss the energy potentials of the area, according to Tomich.

Meanwhile, Cyprus announced a new working partnership with Egypt meant to promote the sharing of expertise and experience between the two countries. According to comments from Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Ossama Kamal, Cyprus made an appeal for guidance on how best to approach its new found oil and gas in the region, Forbes reported.

A Cypriot technical delegation is set to travel to Egypt next month, according to the Egypt Daily News.

Cyprus will soon launch the second licensing round for the remaining 12 offshore gas exploration blocks in its Exclusive Economic Zone, according to Xinhua new agency.  It is said that 15 companies and joint ventures have bid for 9 of the 12 exploration blocks and their bids are now under evaluation.

Ten other former high-ranking oil and gas officials also reportedly received shorter jail sentences, according to Reuters.

Head of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, canceled its natural gas agreement with Israel in April arguing that it had stopped paying its bills.

The 2005 Egypt-Israel gas deal had always been viewed by many Egyptians with great suspicion while critics point out Israel got gas at below market prices making the deal a rip-off for Egypt.

The agreement, which supplied Israel with 40% of its natural gas, caused the country to lose more than US$714 million worth of income, according to AFP. 

After the January 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak from the presidency, the deal came under attack from revolutionary groups and critics who said the deal was one of the former president’s worst crimes. The pipeline was bombed by unknown 14 times causing Egypt to halt the deal a month later.

Israel claims it is paying a fair price for the gas. Israeli officials believe that immediate exploitation of two major natural gas fields off the country’s northern coast could compensate for the loss of Egyptian gas. Israel has already moved to begin exploiting the fields, striking a deal with Cyprus.

Thursday’s sentencing is the latest in a series of cases against Mubarak-era officials, AFP reports, as  former president has been sentenced to life in prison over the killing of some 850 protesters.

The 2005 Egypt-Israel gas deal has been viewed by many Egyptians with great suspicion while critics point out Israel got gas at below market prices making the deal a rip-off for Egypt.

Israel claims it is paying a fair price for the gas.

The 1979 peace treaty, the largest trade deal between the two countries, which required Egypt to supply Israel with oil, was later amended to natural gas.

Egypt’s pipeline in the Sinai supplying natural gas to Israel has been attacked 14 times since uprisings began in February 2011 causing disruption in gas supplies.

The attacks believed to oppose the sale of gas to the Israel became  more frequent and supplies were halted after the overthrow of Mubarak in February, reuters reports.

Egypt supplied Israel with more than 40 percent of its natural gas needs to produce electricity. Meanwhile, electricity prices have risen by more than 20 percent in Israel since the attacks began, according to JTA.

Israeli officials believe that immediate exploitation of two major natural gas fields off the country’s northern coast could compensate for the loss of Egyptian gas.

Israel has already moved to begin exploiting the fields, signing a deal with Cyprus.

Furthermore, Mohamed Shoeb, the head of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, said the decision to cancel the deal was not political.

“This has nothing to do with anything outside of the commercial relations,” Shoeb told The Associated Press.

He said Israel has not paid for its gas in four months. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor denied that.

Shoeb told Egyptian TV that the decision to terminate the deal was made
 Thursday because “each side has rights and we are representing our rights.”

An agreement was reached in 2005 between the Israeli and Egyptian governments as part of a political agreement according to which Cairo undertook to allocate 7 billion cubic meters (BCM) of Egyptian gas to the Israeli market for 20 years, with an option to double the supply, according to Haaretz.