Egypt is looking to buy more LNG: The state gas firm EGAS is looking to import no less than one LNG shipment a month until July or August in efforts to prevent a repeat of last year’s rolling blackouts, Bloomberg reports, citing people it says have knowledge of the matter. The country will need no less than five such shipments for the summer, one source is quoted as saying. The government has purchased at least two shipments of LNG to be delivered next month, an Oil Ministry source told us last week

And the gov’t is already in talks to lease a floating regasification unit from Norway’s BWEnergy for five years, an unnamed source told Al Borsa. The proposed regasification unit that will dock in Ain Sokhna will do away with the country’s reliance on Jordan’s terminal in Aqaba and be the first in the country since the government ended a contract with Norway’s Höegh Gallant in 2018.

ICYMI: The power outages are set to make their comeback today now that the Eid Al Fitr break is over. Lights are expected to go out for two hours a day, a source at the electricity sector told Enterprise earlier this month.

But, it will get more difficult for us to secure LNG shipments on the back of growing seasonal demand from South America — where winter starts in June. Increasing demand paired with Egypt’s absence from the LNG market means a tightening LNG market and may put Egypt in a position where it will have to “scramble for shipments in the coming months,” Bloomberg reported.

The solution? “In the long run, Egypt will need to increase its exploration efforts to boost production and bet on renewable energy,” International Crisis Group’s North Africa project director Riccardo Fabiani told Bloomberg.

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