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Egypt negotiating with Qatar to fill natural gas gap Egypt is negotiating to import Qatari natural gas in an attempt to fill the local consumption gap, which has caused power cuts for energy-saving measures
Egypt's Minister of Petroleum Osama Kamal arrived in Qatar on Friday to negotiate a gas-importing contract, the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported Saturday. Official sources familiar with the situation told Al-Ahram that the Egyptian government would import 400-500 million cubic feet on a daily basis. A member of Egypt's Federation of Investors for petroleum and gas affairs, Mohamed Saad Eddin detailed to Ahram Online that negotiations with Qatar eyed liquefied gas, not dry. "The natural gas pipelines do not reach all areas in Egypt and that explains why we need liquefied gas to be transported by trucks," he added. Roughly 56 per cent of local natural gas consumption goes to the electricity sector, which is the largest gas-consuming sector. Another 27 per cent goes to the industrial sector. Several factory owners complain of disruptions in gas supply because the supply has been diverted to meet the demands on Egypt's electricity grid during the hot summer - which often saw power cuts. Last week, the head of Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) Mohamed Shoeib announced finding six new natural gas sources in the Mediterranean and Nile Delta regions. The new explorations help raise the daily production of Egypt's natural gas to 6 billion cubic feet. In April, Egypt cancelled the natural gas exporting deal with Israel. Cancelling the deal means Egypt keeps 60 billion cubic feetof gas that can now be used to replace petroleum products imported to meet domestic energy demands. In 2010, Egypt produced around 2.3 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) and consumed just over 1.6 TCF of natural gas, according to official data. Egypt's proven gas reserves registered at 77 TCF, an increase from 2010 estimates of 58.5 TCF and the third highest in Africa, after Nigeria and Algeria. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/53527.aspx
