Egypt Gas Crunch To Intensify Even Amid Record Israel Imports

23 Feb 2024 Issue: 67 / 8 By: Peter Stevenson

With Egypt’s gas output falling back to levels last seen before the late-2017 start-up of the country’s giant Zohr field, the country recorded a substantial gas deficit for 2023. LNG exports only continued thanks to record gas imports from Israel and even these are set to fall to zero over the coming months.

Egypt’s dependence on imports of Israeli gas continues to grow despite Cairo’s public condemnation of the war in Gaza (MEES, 23 February).

Having slumped for October and November with the one-month closure of the direct EMG pipeline after Hamas’ 7 October assault on Israel (MEES, 17 November), volumes shot back to a record 1.014bn cfd for December with January’s 990mn cfd the second highest ever despite maintenance crimping output at Israel’s key 1.2bn cfd Leviathan field (see chart 1). Though the 22tcf field was shut-in between 29 January and 4 February, output returned to full capacity in the following days, meaning that February will also likely see Egypt receive bumper volumes. (CONTINUED - 1043 WORDS)