Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) postponed to mid-October the operation of a second gasification ship in Ain Sokhna Port, as the pier were the ship is to dock has not been completed. A senior official at EGAS told Daily News Egypt that the second gasification ship will begin pumping gas into the national network by the end of October, provided the pier is completed by mid-month. The official said the gasification ship arrived at Sokhna Port on Wednesday, but was unable to dock in the specified pier as the dredging work was completed. He added that the ship will receive about 700m cubic feet of gas per day to pump into the national network. EGAS signed a contract with Singaporean gas company, BW, to rent the second gasification ship for five years. The official said that a tender to import 45 shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for a period up to the end of 2016 will be completed next week, after the 12 presented offers are evaluated. EGAS ruled out a number of foreign companies that made proposals for the tender as their offers did not technically meet the requirements. The tender included the same technical and financial terms of the one launched last October. The official said the second gasification ship will contribute to the needs of power plants and the industrial sector of natural gas to fill the current gap between domestic production and consumption, until the completion of new gas field development projects. EGAS had previously signed 90 agreements for importing shipments of LNG during the three years, through international tenders and direct agreements with Gazprom and Sonatrach, with the aim of securing sufficient supply to power plants. The source added that the contracts signed with companies to import LNG shipments include a grace period of 30 days from the arrival date to pay up the price of the shipments.
