Egypt imports liquefied natural gas worth $2.2bn

The Egyptian Holding Company for Natural Gas (EGAS), owned by the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, announced yesterday that it had bought 89 shipments of liquefied natural gas during the fiscal year 2015/2016 at a cost of $2.2 billion to fill the current gap between production and consumption.

In Egypt, the fiscal year begins early July, according to the General Budget Law.

The company announced, according to a statement issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum, that during the fiscal year 2015/2016 14 new discoveries were made and reserves reached 31.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 38 million barrels of condensate.

The Egyptian daily needs of gas are about 5.6 billion cubic feet, according to data released by the Ministry of Petroleum, with no details given on the domestic production share of total needs.

According to the company’s statement, EGAS Chairman Mohammed Al-Masry said that natural gas has been provided to various economic sectors. He also said that the electricity consumption amounted to 62 per cent of the domestic production of gas, while the industrial sector consumption reached 23 per cent, homes and car fuel five per cents and oil derivatives 10 per cent.

He added that during the last fiscal year, natural gas had been delivered to 715,000 housing units, totalling up to 7.6 million units until the end of June 2016. He also added that during the same year, natural gas was delivered, for the first time, in 34 towns and villages in Upper Egypt in Egypt’s south and the Delta in the north.

Egypt’s natural gas reserves amount to about 90 trillion cubic feet, according to statements issued by the former Minister of Petroleum and current Prime Minister Ismail Sharif in September 2014.

EGAS’s Masry revealed in the company’s Wednesday statement that there are preparations for launching a new international tender at the Mediterranean Sea and the northern Nile Delta, without giving further details.