The Dutch oil company Shell has exported three liquefied gas shipments to international markets through its Edco plant for liquefaction since September, after it obtained 200m cubic feet of gas per day from production at the Borollos fields. A senior source at the petroleum sector told Daily News Egypt that Shell targets to export liquefied gas shipments every 20 days according to Edco's current supply rates. Shell agreed with the Ministry of Petroleum on gradually increasing quantities specified for export to 250m cubic feet per day, to achieve a return that will help the company to repay loans due in instalments. The source added that the Ministry of Petroleum targets to operate Edco plant at full capacity in order to export liquefied gas shipments to international markets by fiscal year 2020/2021. The contractual share of Edco plant registered 1.13bn cubic feet of gas per day, while the pumping rates declined since 2011 until 2015. The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) repaid $480m of Edco's outstanding instalments to the bank before stopping operations at full capacity in 2012—thus, the foreign partner resorted to international arbitration against Egypt. The source said Edco plant repays banks in instalments at roughly $200m annually, out of a loan worth $2bn obtained by the company to implement liquefaction units. He added that the factory is required to export 22 shipment of liquefied gas annually, in order to achieve self-sufficiency between its revenues and expenditures. The source pointed out that the government is planning to allow Edco plant to import liquefied gas from Cyprus to rerun it at full capacity in order to achieve economic returns for the state and foreign partners by 2020. The plant is designed to function for a period of 340 days a year; production will be suspended for a month for the maintenance of units. Maintenance costs are estimated at $20m annually. He explained that the EGPC contributes with 12%, EGAS with 12%, BG company with 35.5%, PETRONAS with 35.5%, and Engie with 5% to the plant.
