Egypt’s gas output fell to a nine-year low of 4.7bn cfd in 2014, with 4.6bn cfd for December. Long-term, Cairo is looking to reverse the decline by spurring deepwater exploration with improved terms but in the meantime it is looking to the country’s first ever LNG imports to make up the shortfall – despite a halt to both LNG and pipeline exports over the past two years, supplies remain below domestic demand.
It has already signed up to import 81 LNG cargoes over the next two years, with more deals likely to follow. Presuming a typical 125,000 m³ cargo size, this equates to roughly 3bn m³/year or 290mn cfd of gas. Egypt plans to import 500mn cfd for the July 2015-June 2016 Egyptian financial year, and 1bn cfd for 2016-17, according to the Ministry of Petroleum’s latest forecasts (MEES, 6 February). (CONTINUED - 393 WORDS)
