80% of Egyptian gas exports go to Europe

At a time when the European Union hopes to increase its imports of Egyptian gas, Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla said on Monday that his country shipped 80 percent of its liquefied natural gas exports to Europe over the past year.
European Union Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said on Monday, on the sidelines of the Egypt International Petroleum Conference and Exhibition (EGYPS 2023), that the bloc expects a tripartite framework agreement with Egypt and Israel to allow Cairo to continue sending “relatively large quantities” of liquefied natural gas to Europe.
The memorandum of understanding was signed last June with the aim of boosting exports of Israeli gas transported through a pipeline to liquefaction plants on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast before it is shipped to Europe.
Al-Mulla explained that his country expects its production of liquefied natural gas to stabilize at about 7.5 million tons this year, similar to last year.
Egypt is facing an increase in domestic demand for gas, and is trying to provide gas for export after prices rose. European demand for gas increased last year in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Officials said any significant expansion of export capacity would take time. “We now have to solve some of the crippling problems,” Simpson told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference in Cairo. “We expect that with the help of this Memorandum of Understanding, Egypt will be able to preserve the relatively large quantities of LNG that it sent to Europe last year,” she added.
In response to a question about the quantities of liquefied natural gas that can be exported under the memorandum, Simpson said: «It depends on national decisions. Of course, Israel is the one that should decide the quantities it is willing to export. And she went on to say, “We see that there is an excess capacity in the liquefaction facilities here in Egypt, but the specified quantities were not part of the memorandum of understanding.”
Meanwhile, Tariq Al-Mulla witnessed, during the activities of the first day of the Egypt International Petroleum Conference and Exhibition «EGYPS 2023», the signing of a number of memorandums of understanding and joint cooperation agreements between the petroleum sector and a number of major international energy and technology companies, the most prominent of which was: a memorandum of understanding between the ministry and the company «Chevron». » Global capacity-building for emissions reduction, through cooperation in capacity-building, and exchange of best practices related to low-carbon projects, including those related to methane emissions management.
The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum also signed a memorandum of understanding with the international company “IBM”, according to which the consulting services provided by the leading technology company in the field of digital transformation and sustainability will be used. In support of the endeavors of companies operating in the oil and gas industry in these fields.
The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation also signed a joint marketing agreement with the American company “Apache” to export the authority’s share and “Apache’s” share of Qarun mixture raw materials to the global market, for the first time, which enhances the value of Egyptian crude in the global market.
Al-Mulla also witnessed the signing of two memorandums of understanding between the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF), the International Energy Forum and the Energy Observatory for the Mediterranean, within the framework of establishing effective partnerships between the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum and regional and international organizations and entities. To enhance its efforts in developing the natural gas sector and advancing the energy transition through cooperation and exchange of experiences and practices in related fields.
The memorandum will advance cooperation frameworks to enhance regional dialogue on supporting the sustainability and resilience of global energy markets, through cooperation in 4 main areas, including: the policy of security and sustainability of the gas market, research on investment trends, trade and innovation in the gas sector, support for the construction of the hydrogen network, and the role of gas in energy transformation.