Syria’s energy grid is receiving a big injection of natural gas this week, receiving 4 mn cubic meters per day (cbm / d) of natural gas from Jordan under a USD 800 mn agreement. The flows are routed directly into electricity generation as part of a fast-track fix for a strained grid.

The origin of the supply is murky — but we know Egypt is likely part of the mix. Egypt already started moving some 50 mn cubic feet per day (mcf / d) (c. 1.4 mn cbm / d) of gas to Lebanon and the same to Syria via the Arab Gas Pipeline, using LNG imports and floating regasification capacity, a government source tells us, confirming news carried by Asharq Business. Qatari gas my also be part of the mix as part of a March agreement to provide Syria with around 2 mn cbm /d of gas routed through Jordan.

PLUS- The volumes supplied through Egypt would likely come from a blend of sources, Ross Cassidy VP of Mena Research at Welligence Energy Analytics tells us. Egypt’s natural gas imports are diversified — QatarEnergy, Shell, and TotalEnergies are among suppliers of LNG, and Cairo also receives pipeline gas from Israel — so any volumes sold to Syria would likely be an amalgamation of those streams.

That was fast: Agreements to move gas to Lebanon and Syria via Jordan, using Aqaba’s regasification unit, were signed only within the past two weeks.

Why it matters

The setup is also a big part of the story: Egypt is receiving LNG cargoes on behalf of the two nations, regasifying it via the Energos Force floating storage and regasification unit, currently docked at Jordan’s Aqaba Port, and pushing it north. Egypt already received one shipment last week and will be getting a second 3.5 bcf (c. 99 mn cbm) shipment by the end of the month, our source said.

For Syria, the quick flow of gas is critical for reconstruction, as the country works to ramp up and stabilize electricity generation. The country produced up to 2.4 GW of electricity of last summer — way below the pre-war levels of some 9.5 GW.

ICYMI- Damascus signed agreements last November to build eight new power plants with a combined capacity of 5 GW under a public-private partnership model with a Qatari-led UCC Holding consortium.

Our take

Egypt may not be a net gas exporter right yet — but it is still still playing hub, leveraging its place as one of the few players in the region with both liquefaction and regasification capacity and a location position on key transit routes. This gives Egypt a dual paths to re-export — domestic output or pipeline gas via Israel or Cyprus can be liquified and shipped out as LNG, while LNG imports are regasified through FSRUs and pushed through pipelines.

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