Egypt will import around 160 liquefied gas shipments by 2025
Egypt is looking to import 155-160 shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 2025 to close the gap between market need and local production, according to a government official who spoke to Al-Sharq.
The official, who requested anonymity, estimated that the cost of importing LNG shipments over the next year will be about $8 billion, based on an average price of 48-50 million dollars per shipment. This was stated in a report on the country's imported gas requirements for 2025, which was delivered to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.
With Egypt's natural gas production declining significantly, the country has switched back to importing liquefied gas starting this year, after halting this since 2018, due to new gas discoveries, especially in the Zohr field.
Egypt and natural gas production
This country on the African continent has always been a relevant player in the global natural gas market. By 2023, according to Statista figures, Egypt had produced 57.1 billion cubic metres of natural gas. This was a decrease of 11% compared to 2022.
Also, this country is the largest producer of natural gas globally and accounts for 2% of production worldwide. Other relevant producers are: United States, Russia and Iran.
Egypt has 33 natural gas producing fields, of which 23 are located onshore and the rest offshore. The Mediterranean has 12 producing fields, making it the largest offshore field in the country.
In addition, the government is working to increase the amount of natural gas available to meet its needs. This led Egypt, from last April until now, to agree on 50 shipments of liquefied gas.
Cairo has also announced plans to drill 46 oil and gas exploration wells during the current fiscal year, with investments totalling 748.5 million dollars.
Liquefied gas imports and deals
Al-Sharq's unnamed source mentioned, ‘The plan to import liquefied gas is currently being carried out according to local gas production indicators until 2030, as it turned out that all wells to be connected during that period will not succeed in filling the gap between local consumption and expected production.’
The shortage of natural gas is a problem that affects both the country's economy and quality of life. For this reason, the Egyptian government ordered a first shipment, in June this year, containing 3.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
The Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Karim Badawi, reported that 15 agreements are being negotiated, including 20 million dollars in signature bonuses. Meanwhile, the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company agreed with Shell and BP to start production at the Harmattan gas field in 2026, with an initial investment of 370 million dollars.
A government official reported that Pharaonic Petroleum Company has completed engineering studies for the project, which is estimated to produce 125 million cubic feet of gas and 3,300 barrels of condensate per day.
Cumulative quotas
In addition to importing, Egypt is communicating with foreign companies working to extract gas in the country to encourage them to increase production. In this way, it has already agreed with Italy's Eni and the US company Apache to increase production and has also pledged to pay overdue dues to encourage them to complete field development and exploration programmes.
Notably, the Egyptian government has already been paying its overdue dues. In November this year it paid 1 billion of the 2 billion dollars owed to foreign oil companies.
The government is also looking to change development and research plans with foreign partners, starting to pay off partners' overdue dues according to an agreed schedule. This includes incentive methods and periodic payment of the value of the partners' share so that debts do not accumulate again.