Egypt had a good year in 2019 for natgas exports and renewables, according to BP: Egypt’s natural gas exports more than doubled to 4.5 bn cbm in 2019, up from 2 bn cbm in 2018, BP said in its annual Statistical Review of World Energy (pdf). The report said that 1.7 bn cbm were exported to Europe, while Asia and South Pacific countries received 2.7 bn cbm, led by Pakistan which imported 900 mn cbm. Overall gas production increased slightly during the year to 64.9 bn cbm, up from 58.6 bn cbm in 2018, its highest level in more than a decade.

Renewable power generation almost doubled in 2019, leaping by 82.7% compared to a year earlier to reach 6.5 terawatt hours (TWh) – a considerable spike above the average increase of 14.3% over the past decade. A surge in solar generation was primarily responsible for the increase, rising almost 145% to 3.7 TWh in 2019 from just 1.5 TWh in 2018. Meanwhile, wind generation grew by more than a third to 2.8 TWH, from 2.0 TWh in the previous year.

Consumption of hydrocarbons dips: Oil consumption fell 1.8% to 743k bbl/d as production slid 1.9% to 686k bbl/d. Gas consumption also dipped 1.1% to 58.9 bn cbm despite production rising almost 11% to 64.9 bn cbm.

The increasing role of renewables in Egypt’s energy mix is reflected in the declining carbon emissions, which fell 1.7% to 217.4 mn tonnes in 2019. This is a marked reversal of a trend spanning the last decade (2008-2018), which saw emissions creep up by an average 2.6% each year.