Egypt started importing about 200m cubic feet of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per day by from Jordan since last September, to provide a part of the country’s needs of gas during the coming period.
A senior official at the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) told Daily News Egypt that an agreement has been signed with Jordan to take advantage of the excess capacity of gas from the gasification ship in Jordan and supply LNG shipments to Egypt.
He added that the gas is imported through the pipeline, through which Egypt exported gas to Jordan in 2004, noting that this was not possible since the first half of 2014 due to the lack of gas.
The official said that this line was bombed more than 20 times, noting that Egypt had signed a 15-year agreement with Jordan in 2004 for the supply of 250m cubic feet of LNG per day at a price of $2.5 per million British thermal units (BTU), and that the government raised gas prices in April 2011 to $5.7 per million BTUs.
Further, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla, along with EGAS Chairman Khaled Abdel Badie, visited Jordan last week to increase support and joint cooperation between the two countries in the fields of oil, gas and mineral resources.
Talks discussed the importance of activating regional cooperation between Egypt, Jordan and Iraq in the next stage, which includes the implementation of pipelines for oil and gas from Iraq to Jordan and Egypt. This comes to achieve the common economic benefit and optimal utilisation of surplus of Iraq’s production of oil and gas, and take advantage of the geographical location of Jordan and Egypt.
The official noting that Egypt importing gas through Jordan will benefit both sides, especially as importing does not require new investments, as Jordan will receive revenues in return for the excess energy from the gasification ship.
He noted that Jordan imports nearly 300m cubic feet per day, and the ship capacity is 500m cubic feet per day. The project will enable Egypt to increase the amount of imported gas without the need for renting a third ship.
He added that the market’s actual gas requirements are estimated at 5.6bn daily, excluding the liquidation factories in Edku and Damietta, compared to the nearly 4.75bn feet provided from local production and importing.
