In news on other closely watched legislation, the executive regulations for the Natural Gas Act will be finalized this month and sent over to the Ismail Cabinet for review, the recently-appointed head of the new market regulator, Karem Mahmoud, tells Youm7. The regs will outline the roles and duties of the market regulator, which will be in charge of easing the state out of the industry and regulating both private and public players. Among its responsibilities will be to issue licences to import natural gas. Four unnamed private firms have already submitted requests to EGAS for preliminary approval on their import licenses, sources tell Al Shorouk. EGAS had reportedly approved natural gas import licenses in August for Fleet Energy, BB Energy, and Qalaa Holding’s TAQA Arabia following the issuance of the Natural Gas Act, effectively opening the market to competition.