Egypt’s existing natural gas infrastructure may not be sufficient to support our export ambitions, Egyptian LNG’s (ELNG) senior optimization manager Tamer Abdelsalam told Houston’s Gastech conference, according to Petroleum Economist. One of Egypt’s two LNG export terminals, at Idku, will return to full capacity next month following years of operating below capacity. However, reopening the Damietta LNG plant may not be as imminent, Abdelsalam said. The problem of congestion will likely get worse as production from Zohr and BP’s West Nile Delta continues to increase and Egypt begins importing gas from Israel and — in a few years — from Cyprus. A possible solution, he said, is to expand Idku by adding a third train.

In related news, state-owned EGAS has offered to sell six LNG shipments from Idku liquefaction plant by 1 November, sources told Reuters on Friday.