Italian energy giant Eni expects to resume LNG exports from Egypt when seasonal demand eases even as Israel’s war in Gaza curbs our imports of Israeli gas, Eni’s deputy COO for natural resources Cristian Signoretto said on an earnings call, according to Bloomberg. “Consumption in [Egypt] is decreasing substantially due to the normal seasonal effect … we will see exports resuming once this effect will be notable,” he said.

ICYMI- Egypt has barely exported any LNG since the start of the summer due to declining localproduction and rising domestic demand. These two factors together have put pressure on local supply and triggered months of daily blackouts across much of the country. Shipping data show that Egypt has exported just two cargoes this month.

This has dealt a blow to exports:The value of the country’s LNG exports fell almost 60% y-o-y to USD 2.3 bn during the first seven months of the year. Shipments of Egyptian gas to Europe have fallen to 2% of the continent’s total imports so far this year, down from 4% in 2022.

Gaza war throws another wrench into the works: Egypt has seen its imports of Israeli gas curbed by 20% after Chevron suspended production at its Tamar field.

Chevron is shipping us less gas than we’ve contracted: That’s according to Chevron CFO Pierre Breber, who told Bloomberg that the company is increasing production at Leviathan to offset the loss of Tamar. “We continue to supply Jordan customers and we continue to supply part of our Egyptian contracts, but not all of our contracts for our Egyptian customers.”

CHINA ENERGY WANTS TO SET UP HYDRO POWER PLANT

Another China Energy project brewing: China’s state-owned China Energy will start working on feasibility studies for a 2-GW pumped hydroelectric energy storage plant under an MoU inked with the Electricity Ministry, according to a ministry statement. The project will be established under a build-own-operate contract, the statement said, without giving any details regarding the value or timeline of the project.

China Energy loves Egypt: Earlier this month, the company inked a framework agreement with the SCZone to set up a USD 6.75 bn green hydrogen plant that could produce some 1.2 mn tons of green ammonia and 210k tons of green hydrogen each year.

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