CAIRO: Egyptian exports of natural gas and its derivatives collapsed by nearly 25 percent to $233 million in November 2006 compared with $296 million a year earlier, according to a recent report by the Cabinet Information & Decision Support Center. Based on data from the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum, the report notes rising local consumption of natural gas and derivatives in November 2006 to 2,064,000 tons compared with 2,007,000 tons in November 2005. Hany Al-Sharkawy, head of Dana Gas subsidiary in Egypt Centurion Energy, said rising domestic consumption and declining exports of natural gas were due to the increasing demand from the growing manufacturing industry in Egypt as part of the 1000 factory plan. "Despite rising local demand for natural gas and its derivatives, there was no significant growth in gas production, which increased to 3,220,000 tons in November 2006 from 3,200,000 tons a year earlier, he argued. Power generation plants in Egypt mainly rely on natural gas and mazut for fuel. They accounted for 61 percent of total domestic consumption of natural gas in July 2006.
