Egypt's Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly apologised to the nation on Tuesday for the recent power cuts caused by a 12-hour outage of a natural gas well in one of the countries connected to the regional natural gas network, from which Egypt imports natural gas. Madbouly announced a contingency plan for the import of $1.180 billion worth of diesel fuel for power plants to increase strategic reserves, assuring that there are no issues with electricity production or distribution. Urging citizens to cut reliance on imported fuel, Dr Madbouly mandated a 10pm closing time for all non-essential shops like clothing stores, electronics stores, etc., to promote energy conservation. The prime minister told reporters that the first diesel shipment is scheduled to arrive next week, while the remaining shipments are expected to arrive by the third week of July, by which time, the government will completely restore regular electricity supply to residential and commercial customers until the end of the summer season. Meanwhile, he said the government's plan will maintain an electricity load reduction of three hours daily for the rest of the current week, while next week's load will be reduced by approximately two hours daily.
