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FSRUs secured, but gas woes persist: Egypt has so far avoided the return of rolling blackouts amid heightened summed energy demand, but industry publication Middle East Economic Survey (Mees) isn’t sure the government can keep the lights on with its two newly-secured floating storage regasification units (FSRUs) sitting unused, yet to be connected to the grid.
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How much are we missing out on? Once they come online, the Energos Eskimo and EnergosPower will each add 750 mn cubic feet per day (mcf/d) to the country’s regasification capacity.
As things stand: The country is facing a gas shortfall of about 2.5 bcf/d as local production and pipeline imports from Israel fall short of the 6.5 bcf/d needed to meet peak demand. Sporadic blackouts have already occurred, but Egypt’s grid remains mostly stable for now.
IN CONTEXT- “The delay in installing the FSRUs has meant Egypt has been unable to ramp-up LNG imports. Imports over the first six months of 2025 of 2.41 mn tons were flat with 2H 2024 levels,” Mees wrote.
REMEMBER- The government has been preparing for a surge in demand over the summer months by booking in LNG shipments — and the necessary infrastructure to process the deliveries — to close the gap between demand and supply.
Madbouly gives us reason to be hopeful: The two FSRUs are expected to go online and begin feeding the national grid this week, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said (watch, runtime: 1:15:02) during his weekly presser last Wednesday. They will join the already-operational Hoegh Galleon. Once all three are up and running, total regasification capacity will rise to 2.25 bcf/d.
A fourth unit is on the way: The 450 mcf/d Energos Winter will soon be stationed at Damietta’s United Gas Derivatives Company berth. A loading arm was delivered last week to prepare for its arrival. Once active, the unit will bring Egypt’s total FSRU-based capacity to 2.7 bcf/d.
IN OTHER ENERGY NEWS-
A premature statement gives us reason to believe we’ll soon see Cypriot gas coming our way: Cyprus Energy Minister George Papanastasiou prematurely announced that Exxon Mobil has made a significant gas discovery at Cyprus’ Pegasus-1 well and that there were plans to send the gas to Egypt for liquefaction and re-export.
Don’t get your hopes up: “Announcing the gas find before an official statement was issued was ill-advised but more so was the mentioning that the gas would be sent to Egypt,” an industry source told industry publication Middle East Economic Survey (Mees). He explained that Exxon is advising caution and that it will need months to analyze the data before making the decision to send gas for liquefaction and re-export in Egypt.
We have been expecting Cypriot gas: Gas from Cyprus’ Cronos and Aphrodite fields will be coming our way, with agreements inked earlier this year between the two sides that will see the country ship natural gas from its offshore fields to be liquefied in facilities in Idku and Damietta before being re-exported to foreign markets.
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. Egypt has been looking to return to its status as a net LNG exporter; Mees sees that happening by 2027 after its Nargis and Nour fields come online.
