Egypt locks in USD 3 bn LNG shipments for 2025: Egypt has reportedly signed agreements worth USD 3 bn with global energy giants Shell and TotalEnergies to purchase 60 LNG shipments in 2025, Asharq Business reports, citing an unnamed Egyptian government official. The agreement — inked last December and activated last month — will allow a one-year deferred payment period from the date of each shipment’s delivery, according to the source.

The details: The agreement will supply nearly five shipments per month valued at USD 50 mn — ranging from 160k to 165k cubic meters in size — offering nearly 500 mn cubic feet of gas per day to the local market per week.

Shoring up supplies: Egypt intends on importing nearly 155-160 shipments of LNG this year in a bid to narrow the gap between domestic production and consumption, valued at nearly USD 8 bn at an average price of USD 48 mn to USD 50 mn per shipment, a government official told Asharq Business back in December.

Why does it matter for Egypt? Egypt — whose production dropped to 4.3 bn cubic ft per day due to fields’ productivity declines — needs 6 bn cubic ft daily for its local consumption, and will likely keep importing LNG until 2029-2030 to meet its LNG needs.

No one seems to agree when Egypt will stop importing LNG and regain its title as a net LNG exporter, with the more pessimistic pencilling in 2029 and the more optimistic seeing LNG deliveries ending by 2026 or 2027.

There’s hope yet with re-export agreements…: Egypt reportedly chartered a third floatingstorage regasification unit to process LNG imports to dock at Ain Sokhna by June 2025 back in December, with the second regasification unit set to dock in Egypt from 2H 2025. An agreement was also struck earlier this month to lease a unit between US-based New Fortress Energy and Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company.

…and some more: The government is also expected to ink agreements this month with France’s TotalEnergies and Italy’s Eni to transport Cypriot gas to Egypt to be liquefied and exported. This follows earlier news from the Oil Ministry that TotalEnergies wanted to supply gas from its fields in Cyprus to Egypt for liquefaction and re-export as LNG or to be fed directly into the grid.

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