Egypt Calls Time On LNG Exports: End Of The Country’s Gas Surplus?

17 Sep 2021 Issue: 64 / 37 By: Peter Stevenson

Egypt has halted gas supplies to Shell’s ELNG export plant with immediate effect. Eni, operator of Egypt’s second plant at Damietta, has been told supplies stop at the end of this year. The move suggests that either Cairo anticipates an output slump or it has other plans for the gas.

Egypt’s gas surplus appears to have been short-lived. Just three years after restarting LNG exports following a four-year period when it was reliant on imports of the super-cooled fuel, Cairo has again slammed on the brakes.

State firm Egas has told Anglo-Dutch major Shell and Malaysia’s Petronas, operators of the 7.2mn t/y ELNG export terminal at Idku that no more gas, beyond already committed volumes, will be made available for export. Italy’s Eni, operator of the 5mn t/y Segas facility at Damietta – which only restarted in February after a nine year outage (MEES, 26 February) – has been told it will only receive gas supplies until the end of the year. (CONTINUED - 1297 WORDS)