The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) began to re-evaluate the natural gas projects that will be connected to the national grid’s production until the end of 2017. This evaluation is to discuss the possibility of providing the local market’s needs of fuel through the two gasification ships at Ain Sokhna port, the gasification ship in Jordan, and domestic production.
A source at EGAS told Daily News Egypt that the domestic production of natural gas will reach about 5bn cubic feet of gas per day by the end of 2017, and will continue to increase successively after connecting the North Alexandria project fields until 2020.
He added that the tender to rent a third gasification ship with a capacity of 750m cubic feet of gas per day was postponed until the completion of the project’s evaluation, which will enter into production in the coming years.
The source pointed out that what the local market needs through next summer is estimated at 6.5bn cubic gas feet per day, divided into about 4.4bn for power stations; 1.2bn for homes, cars, and middle and low consumption factories; and 900m for intensive industries.
He said that the plan is designed to provide about 6.4bn cubic feet per day in accordance with current data. This amount is divided into 1.4bn cubic feet of imported gas per day and 5bn of domestic production.
He explained that they will provide about 1.2bn through the two gasification ships and 200m through the gasification ship in Aqabato to be transported across the Jordanian line.
He pointed out that Italy’s Eni aims to connect about 900m cubic feet of gas per day to the national grid by the end of 2017 or the first quarter of 2018. The project’s production rate will gradually reach 2.7bn cubic feet by 2020.
The source pointed out that the tender for the third gasification ship was to ensure the provision of natural gas needed for the economic development process over the next five years, especially with the entry of the three giant plants in the service to generate electricity gradually until May 2018.
