The consumption of power plants from natural gas increased to about 3.7bn cubic feet of gas per day(bncfd), compared to 3.4bn cubic feet during the month of April, due to rising temperatures. A source at Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) told Daily News Egypt that the consumption of gas stations began to increase as summer months entered and temperatures rose. He pointed out that the ministry of electricity estimated its needs of natural gas for stations during the summer months about 4.4bncfd to the maximum, in addition to the quantities of fuel agreed upon with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation. He explained that power plants decreased their consumption of gas during the current year due to the high efficiency of new stations in the production of energy, compared to previous years before the entry of Siemens stations into production. Electricity consumption represents 61% of the total natural gas consumption, while the rest of the gas consuming sectors (industry, households, car supply, petroleum and its derivatives) represent 39%. Egypt's natural gas output is expected to reach 7.5bncfd during the next fiscal year (FY), compared to 6.8bncfd, the source said. He added that the new projects to be linked to production such as Zohr, Noras, North Alexandria, and 9B contributed to offset the rates of the natural decline of fields and increased production. Furthermore, the average consumption of natural gas in the domestic market is growing annually, according to the industrial and construction development plan and with the increase in the number of cars operating with natural gas, he elaborated. The average consumption of the domestic gas market will rise to about 9bncfd by 2020/21, according to the industrial development plan, and increase the production capacity of electricity and the delivery of gas to homes as well as convert more cars to operate by gas instead of petroleum. In addition, it will stop the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments while achieving local self-sufficiency. The Singapore-based Norway's BW Gasification vessel will be used in the event of gas import.
