The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) estimated the quantities of natural gas exported through Dutch Shell’s Idku gas liquefaction plant at 750m cubic feet per day (scf/day) compared to 500m scf/day last month.
A source at EGAS told Daily News Egypt that the quantities of gas exported through Idku have increased after linking 250m scf/day of the Giza and Fayoum fields to the local production.
He explained that the quantities of gas that are directed to export through Idku are decided based on the shipments contracted to be supplied during the current period on a usual basis, with the regular pumping through the national grid of gases.
The source added that the quantities of natural gas exports through Idku plant for liquefaction have increased, making Egypt strongly return to international markets, after achieving self-sufficiency locally.
The structure of ownership of the Idku plant is 12% for the General Petroleum Corporation, 12% for EGAS, 34.5% for Shell, 35.5% for Petronas, and 5% for Gaz de France.
The source explained that the quantities of gas directed for export through Idku gradually increased. This is after increasing domestic production and the decline in consumption, while meeting the full needs of the industrial sector, power plants, cars, and homes.
He said that the plan of the ministry of petroleum and mineral resources is to connect the wells of Zohr, North Alexandria, and Borollos, according to the timetable for each stage as it contributes to increasing domestic production and covers consumption rates. This is alongside the operation of power plants, in addition to the gas coming from Cyprus and Israel.
The contractual share of Idku is estimated at 1.13bn scf/day. Pumping rates have decreased since 2011 due to the decline of Egypt’s natural gas production after the January 25 Revolution until it stopped completely since the beginning of 2015.
Idku is designed to operate for 340 days each year and stops production for a month for the maintenance of units, which costs $20m.
Egypt’s natural gas output rose to 6.8bn scf/day, compared to the 6.2bn scf/day last year, after linking gas production from the second phase of the West Nile Delta project to North Alexandria and a number of other wells.
