(DNE File photo)
The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) has stopped pumping gas to 60% of Egypt’s high consumption gas factories.
The stoppage is due to high temperatures, and power stations’ demands for gas exceeding 65% out of Egypt’s total gas production.
An EGAS official revealed that power stations increased their consumption to 3.2bn cubic feet of gas on a daily basis, due to the sudden rise in temperature.
He added that 240m cubic feet of gas is pumped daily out of the total 510m cubic feet needed for fertiliser factories.
The official confirmed the gas will be pumped to Abu Qir, Mobco, and Al-Masriya Fertiliser 2 only, and no additional amounts will be pumped to El Nasr, Helwan, Alexandria, and Al-Masriya Fertiliser 1. Talkha fertiliser factory no longer receives gas due to maintenance work at the factory.
Gas is also no longer pumped to the two production lines of Ezz Steel. Instead, only one production line is operating, and 35m cubic feet of gas are pumped daily to the line, of the total 100m cubic feet for the three production lines contracted upon.
The official added that 40m cubic feet of gas is pumped daily to El Tebbin Steel Factory, in addition to another 60m cubic feet pumped to Helwan, Qattamiya, and Qawmeya fertiliser factories.
The official previously said that EGAS stopped pumping gas completely to the rest of the fertiliser factories, and they work with fuel oil. The total contracted amounts are roughly 430m cubic feet of gas daily.
Egypt’s daily production of gas amounts to around 4.35bn of cubic feet as a result of the continuing deficit in the production of wells. The deficit is also a result of supplying roughly 500m cubic feet of imported gas on a daily basis.
