CAIRO: Egypt’s Ain Sokhna port received Friday a liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipment of 3 billion cubic meters (bcm) from Algeria’s Sonatrach, Petroleum Ministry said in a statement.
This is the third LNG shipment Egypt receives in 2015 after a 3.2-bcm shipment in April and another of 3 bcm from Nobel Clean on May 3.
Egypt’s government is working to tackle the worst energy crisis that the country has faced over the past years; rolling power cuts in the summer have become recurrent since the January 25 Revolution in 2011, triggered from fuel shortfalls at power plants, and increasing demand.
The LNG shipment, currently unloaded into a floating degasification import terminal received last month from Norway’s Hoegh LNG, is to be converted into gas before being pumped into the national grid to meet Egypt’s electricity sector fuel needs, the statement read.
“Egypt’s oil sector is working on meeting the domestic market natural gas needs, namely electricity and industry, through leasing a second LNG import terminal,” Minister of Petroleum Sherif Ismail said in the statement.
The country, which was once an energy exporter, has turned to a net importer due to a remarkable slip in oil and gas production coupled with a soaring demand.
In March, State-owned Egyptian Holding Company for Natural Gas (EGAS) signed a five-year deal with Russian company Gazprom to import a total of 35 LNG shipments.
In light of the state’s global tender to procure energy for running power plants, Egypt agreed to import 33 LNG shipments from Trafigura, seven from the British Noble Clean Fuels, six from Algerian state-owned energy company Sonatrach and nine from the Swiss-based Vitol, to be delivered in 2015 and 2016.
