Egypt reduced its imports of liquefied gas through the gasification complex in the port of Ain Sokhna, east of Cairo, by a third to 500 million cubic feet per day, due to the decline in power stations’ consumption of natural gas, according to a government official who spoke with Al-Sharq on condition of anonymity.
Egyptian power stations currently consume about 3.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day, compared to about 4.2 billion cubic feet per day during the last summer months. It also consumes up to a thousand tons of diesel per day instead of 30 thousand tons per day during the past months.
The country imports about 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day through the Jordan gas pipeline, between liquefied gas shipments received on the Aqaba gasification complex, and quantities imported from Israeli fields.
Since last April, Egypt has begun purchasing liquefied natural gas shipments in an exceptional step to avoid electricity outages.
The government company EGAS recently purchased dozens of shipments of liquefied natural gas for immediate delivery to the Aqaba gasification plant in Jordan, before being transported by pipeline to Egypt.
After Egypt reached self-sufficiency in natural gas production for five years, and began exporting the surplus, there was a sudden decline in production rates, which led to a shortage in providing fuel to power plants, and forced Egypt to reduce loads and cut off electricity for hours.
In the middle of the year, the Egyptian government began paying the late dues of foreign oil and gas companies according to an agreed-upon schedule, in addition to incentive mechanisms, including periodic payment of the value of the partners’ share of production so that debts do not accumulate again.
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