Egypt to welcome four gas shipments by April: Egypt is set to resume natural gas imports in April thanks to lower global gas prices and waning European demand, a senior government source told EnterpriseAM. Egypt is expected to receive four LNG shipments by April, as the country looks to build up a strategic gas reserve, leveraging its newly secured infrastructure to sustain operations and meet growing demand, the source added.

And more to come: The country is expected to start receiving between five-six shipments per month during the summer months to meet rising demand during the period, according to the source.

The country aims to import 155-160 shipments of LNG this year to close the gap between demand and supply. Egypt reportedly needs around 6.2 bn cubic feet per day (bcf/d), but domestic production only contributes 4.4 bcf/d.

We have plenty of regasification units coming our way to help us process the shipments. Egypt is in talks to lease a handful of regasification units to cover high energy demand in the summer months. Most recently, Oil Minister Karim Badawi met with CEO of US-based LNG solutions company Excelerate Energy Steven Kobos where they discussed leasing floating storage and regasification units to Egypt. We’re also looking to lease units from Germany, Cyprus, and Turkey.

Hopes that next year things would be different: “We hope that [natural gas] discoveries and increased production will contribute to reducing demand for imported gas by next year,” our source said. Local gas production dipped to an eight-year low of 4.87 bcf/d in 2024, shedding 16%, or nearly 1 bcf/d, y-o-y.

REMEMBER- 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.

The country still has a long-term objective of becoming a net LNG exporter once again. The government does not want to resort to long-term contracts despite the current favorable prices amid hopes of new natural gas discoveries that could put Egypt once again on the global export map along with expanding renewable capacities, a government source previously told us.

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