Welcome to the first issue of Power Trip

Hello, ladies and gents, and welcome to the first issue of our newest signature series, Power Trip.

Your lights stayed on this summer — and that took more doing than it sounds. Egypt's own gas fields are producing less every year, and demand climbs with every hot week. A war next door disrupted the routes half the region's energy travels on, and a drone hit one of our import terminals as demand was hitting a record peak in August. The pressure never let up. What changed was the machinery built to absorb it — and that machinery has a price.

This issue is about how Egypt powers itself today. How did we get through the peak without rationing? How did a country that was exporting gas eight years ago end up buying it back? When there isn't enough to go around, who loses power first, and who decides? What did keeping the lights on actually cost — in greenbacks, in subsidies, in your own bill? And why does so much of it come down to a single fuel?

Over the next few issues we'll follow the current further: into the transition — the IPPs and the factories — and who’s paying for it; out to the ports, pipelines and cables that would make Egypt a hub; and home to your bill, your roof, and your car.

What we’re tracking this week-

#1- BP’s Egypt portfolio is splitting in two

BP is pressing ahead with a USD 700 mn, four-well drilling program while negotiating the sale of roughly USD 1 bn of local assets to Energean. The first well, Fayoum 4, is already producing around 80 mmcf/d from the West Nile Delta portfolio Energean wants to buy. The rig then moves to the second well, Gharab. After that, it will drill the third and fourth wells — both deepwater exploration prospects — for Arcius Energy, BP’s (51%) joint venture with Abu Dhabi’s XRG (49%). Arcius also holds interest in Zohr.

The read through: Although there’s some blur around the asset sale, Energean remains in exclusive talks to buy BP’s stakes in the West Nile Delta assets and its 50% contractor interest in Temsah — also home to Eni’s 2 tcf Denise West discovery, which is targeting to reach a final investment decision within the next few months.

#2- Also in upstream: M&A tug-of-war

Genel Energy has raised its offer for Capricorn Energy to USD 436 mn, beating DNO’s USD 396 mn proposal and winning back Capricorn’s board recommendation. The prize includes Capricorn’s portfolio — a 50% non-operated interest across eight concessions it merged into a single license across the Western Desert — which produced roughly 20k barrels of oil equivalent per day and USD 81 mn in net income last year.

#3- Idku to the world: miss me?

Shell and Petronas plan to resume LNG exports from Idku in October. The two companies got the green light to export two LNG cargoes during October and November last year. By March 2026, the state pressed pause on LNG shipments flowing out of Idku due to the regional disruptions to energy imports combined with gas shortages. Shell and Petronas jointly hold 71% of the liquefaction plant, while the EGPC and Egas together own 24%, and France’s Engie controls the remaining 5%.