We could soon be importing more Israeli gas: Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said yesterday that Israel will increase gas exports to Egypt from its offshore Tamar field, according to reports from Bloomberg and Reuters yesterday. The decision was taken to “increase the state's revenue and strengthen diplomatic ties” between the two countries, Katz wrote on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).

How much could we be getting? Israel will raise gas exports by an additional 38.7 bn cubic meters (bcm) over 11 years, according to the ministry, which translates to 3.5 bcm per year if you average it out. This could later be increased to 44 bcm. Egypt imported 4.62 bcm of gas from Israel last year.

T&Cs apply: The increased volumes will depend on output from the Tamar field increasing by 6 bcm per year from 2026 — some 60% higher than current production levels, the ministry said. Chevron and its partners in the field in December approved a final investment decision for a first phase of expansion, which will involve laying a new pipeline between the wells and the production rig.

We’re going to be waiting a while: The first expansion phase is expected to be completed in early 2025 and the second phase later the same year. Katz didn’t disclose a timeframe yesterday.

Egypt is hoping to increase shipments as soon as October: Asharq Business reported yesterday that the government hopes to increase imports of Israeli gas by more than 30% this October due to falling seasonal demand in Israel, citing an anonymous official.

We’ve been pushing for an increase: Israeli business daily Globes reported last month that Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamal asked Israel’s national security head to increase gas exports in a recent meeting.

We need the gas: Egypt has struggled to keep the lights on this summer partly due to falling domestic gas production, which helped trigger weeks of rolling blackouts across the country. Soaring domestic demand has also forced the country to step back from the international markets this year, with Egypt exporting hardly any LNG since June.

The Oil Ministry has some ambitious export targets: The Madbouly government is targeting oil and gas exports of USD 21 bn for 2023, up 15% from USD 18.2 bn in 2022. The state is targeting another c.15% increase in 2024 to USD 24 bn.

REMEMBER- Egypt and Israel signed a landmark gas export agreement with the EU last year to ramp up exports to the bloc as it looks to phase out reliance on Russian fossil fuels.

We may get a whole new pipeline for Israeli gas: Israel’s NewMed is considering constructing a new pipeline linking Israeli fields to our liquefaction facilities but is also looking at acquiring a floating LNG terminal, enabling it to export directly to Europe.

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