Egypt to look beyond Qatar

Egypt are hoping to continue to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from and other fuel sources from Qatar, despite political differences that arose when former Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi was deposed in July. Although Egypt realises the importance of protecting the run of supplies from Qatar, the country has reviewed other potential suppliers, including Algeria and Yemen.

Chairman of state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) alluded to “possibilities with Algeria, Yeman, [and] other countries”.

In May, Doha contributed five cargoes of LNG to Egypt, with a view to increase this number to 13. The deposition of Mohamed Mursi, however, soured relations, and negotiations stalled. Despite this, a source from Qatar implied that “pure business” would eventually resolve the current stasis.

Increasing domestic demand and shortages of supplies have meant that Egypt has cut back exporting LNG over the last few years. Earlier this month, Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), another state-run company in Egypt, announced that it had gone to tender over a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), with which it plans to begin operations in April 2014. According to EGAS Chairman Tarek al-Molla, both this unit, and further LNG imports are required in order to evade an impending energy crisis, which is due to break out in the summer of 2014.

Edited from various sources by Ted Monroe

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