How will Egypt benefit from gas export agreement with Israel, EU?

CAIRO - 15 June 2022: Egypt’s total exports of natural gas amounted to 2.5 billion cubic meters by the end of 2020, acquiring about 1.3 percent of the total Arab countries’ exports of natural gas, according to the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) report for 2021.

 

Egypt's global share of total natural gas exports in 2020 reached about 0.53 percent, according to the data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) platform.

 

Certainly, Egypt’s share of the total natural gas exports worldwide will increase on the back of signing an agreement with Israel and the European Union (EU) on natural gas delivery to the European Union (EU) from the East Med region.

 

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed earlier on Wednesday, between Egypt, Israel and the European Union to supply and liquefy gas before transferring it to European countries.

 

The agreement was signed during the ministerial meeting of the EMGF, with the aim of reducing the EU reliance on Russian gas supplies.

 

The European Union decided to ban about 90 percent of Russian gas imports, as part of a package of sanctions imposed by Europe on Moscow, due to its invasion of Ukraine.

 

Economically, Egypt possesses the infrastructure through which gas can be imported and exported from its two existing liquefaction stations, depending on the gas available in neighboring countries that do not have an infrastructure that allows the export of their gas.

 

It seeks to become a regional energy center by exporting its surplus natural gas production, in addition to exporting the surplus of gas to neighboring countries, through the two liquefaction stations located on the Mediterranean shore in Idku and Damietta.

 

The Egyptian state benefits from such a good economic position by benefiting from the liquefaction of gas exported from neighboring countries through liquefaction stations that the state shares in ownership of, in addition to transit fees through the national gas network.

 

According to data from the Ministry of Petroleum, Egypt's exports of natural and liquefied gas jumped by 98 percent during the first four months of this year, on an annual basis, recording $3.892 billion.

 

Egypt's natural gas exports increased during 2021 by 768.2 percent to reach $3.959 billion, compared to $456 million in 2020m according to the data.

 

Egypt owns about 1.07 percent of the total proven natural gas reserves in the world, and about 4 percent of the total proven reserves in the Arab countries.

 

What’s more, Egypt's total natural gas exports to Europe in 2020 via tankers amounted to about 366.24 billion cubic meters.

 

The total amount of natural gas exported by Egypt via tankers during 2020 was about 2,143.45 billion cubic meters.

 

Egypt aims to raise its exports of natural and liquefied gas by 114.3 percent by the end of the current fiscal year, according to Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek el-Molla previous statement.