In a quiet morning for Egypt in the foreign press, the Financial Times dives into our “journey from gas bonanza to power blackouts.” The broadsheet tracks how the country went from having ambitious plans to become a regional energy exporting powerhouse — bolstered by the Zohr discovery whose estimated reserves put it as the Mediterranean’s largest discovery — to our present predicament of power cuts and costly energy imports eating away at the public purse.

Reuters also took a look at our efforts to bridge the energy supply gap, with a report claiming that Saudi Arabia and Libya are allegedly funding the purchase of around USD 200 mn worth of natural gas shipments to Egypt in an effort to help alleviate our energy crisis, citing two unnamed industry sources. The country needs around USD 2 bn worth of gas to cover demand until October, according to the newswire.

Remember: The government is spending USD 1.2 bn for energy imports this summer to help fill a supply gap and put a temporary end to blackouts during the hottest months of the year. After becoming a net exporter of LNG in 2018 and signaling its intention to become an important energy exporter to the region and Europe, production falls and rising domestic demand led to Egypt having to ramp up imports to bridge the supply gap.

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