The Israel Electric Company has signed an 11-year contract with Israeli companies that have discovered gas off the Israeli coast outside Ashkelon. The gas for the $150-million-a-year contract will be piped to an installation on the Ashdod shore, and from there to the Electric Company\'s power stations. The arrangement is scheduled to begin at the beginning of 2004. Gas market experts say that the deposits discovered outside Ashkelon could supply all of Israel\'s needs, and that there is no need to purchase gas from the PA\'s deposits off the Gaza Coast. Israel\'s purchases from the PA cost Israel millions of dollars in income, royalties, and taxes.