State-owned Egytptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) will offer a limited international tender this month to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) for power plants over the next five years, according to the company's chairman, Khaled Abdel-Badie. The tender will be awarded before the end of the year for the gas supply to begin in January 2015. Bidding will be offered to international companies operating in the supply of LNG and will encompass the provision of approximately 500m cubic feet of gas per day, said Abdel-Badie. Last year, the government introduced a tender for international companies to import gas to power plants which was award to Shell mid-year. However, former President Mohamed Morsi's ouster led to the award going unrecognized. The Ministry of Petroleum signed a five-year agreement with Nowegian company HOG to rent a regasification boat to convert the imported gas from its liquid state into gas, said Abdel-Badie. Regasification boats will arrive at Ain Sokhna port in September. Egypt is currently facing a decline in gas production rates, as the gap between production and the country's needs is about 2bn cubic feet per day. Output currently stands at 4.9bn cubic feet, compared to 5.6bn cubic feet during the same period last year.
