The EU doesn’t expect to import more LNG from Egypt this year: Last year’s agreement to boost natural gas exports to the EU from Israel and Egypt will allow Cairo to “keep the relatively high volumes of LNG that it delivered to Europe last year,” EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson told Reuters on the sidelines of the Egypt Petroleum Show (EGYPS).

El Molla agrees: LNG production in 2023 is expected to stay flat at around 7.5 mn tons — in line with 2022, when 80% of output went to Europe, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla said at EGYPS yesterday, according to Reuters.

We still have spare capacity at our two liquefaction plants, El Molla said during the conference. “They are there prepared for the time when we make the decision to increase their capacity to double or triple,” he said. El Molla had previously said the country hopes to run the Idku and Damietta liquefaction facilities at full tilt throughout 2023, adding that maximum capacity for LNG exports could reach 12 mn tons per annum by 2025.

So what’s stopping us from upping exports? “Now we have to solve some of the bottleneck issues,” Simson said, suggesting the solution lies in Israeli hands. “It depends on national decisions. Of course Israel is the one that has to decide; what are the volumes they are willing to export,” she said. “We see that there is spare capacity in liquefaction facilities here in Egypt, but exact volumes were not part of our memorandum of understanding.”

We knew this could take time: A major infrastructure push — including fresh exploration and the construction of new LNG terminals and pipelines — will likely be needed to significantly up LNG exports to Europe, officials have said. El Molla last year said he expects it to take two or three years before we are realistically able to boost capacity.

BACKGROUND- Simson is set to hold meetings with Oil Minister Tarek El Molla and his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz during EGYPS to move forward with the nine-year framework agreement signed between the three parties last summer. The pact should pave the way for more investment in gas exploration and infrastructure in Israel and Egypt, in a bid to increase natural gas shipments to the EU from Israel via Egyptian liquefaction plants. The agreement is a cornerstone of the state’s efforts to up energy exports to Europe, helping plug the gap left by the loss of Russian supply and positioning us as a “key gas corridor” in the Eastern Mediterranean.

REMEMBER- We’ve done what we can in the short term on the domestic front: The state is rationing its usage of gas for domestic power production and turning to other types of fuel in order to free up more gas for export, amid a foreign currency shortage that has brought fresh urgency to efforts to ramp up exports of all stripes.

DANA GAS TO INVEST USD 100 MN+ HERE-

Emirati firm Dana Gas wants to invest USD 100 mn in our oil and gas sector over the next two years, CEO Patrick Allman Ward told Asharq Business in an interview (watch, runtime: 0:50). The company negotiated “a new set of terms” with state-owned EGAS in December that will allow it to make the investments and extend the life of its local gas fields by another two-three years, Allman Ward said.

Dana has its eye on fresh tenders: The company is interested in bidding for concessions in the three new international oil and gas tenders Egypt plans to launch this year, Allman Ward added. Dana has had a tumultuous relationship with Egypt over the years, but remains an active player in the domestic industry.

AGREEMENTS ON CARBON CAPTURE + MORE OUT OF EGYPS-

Oil and gas giants Chevron, Shell, and Apache, and tech multinational IBM signed agreements on low(er) carbon projects, crude exports, and digital transformation with the Oil Ministry and affiliated firms at the conference yesterday, according to ministry statements (here and here.)

• Chevron signed an MoU with the Oil Ministry to cooperate on projects to lower its carbon footprint, including methane emissions reduction;
• Shell signed an agreement with a Bechtel-led consortium including Enppi and Petrojet to reduce carbon emissions in Shell’s gas facilities, kickstarting a project to unify the energy system for the Egyptian LNG export complex in Idku and a nearby onshore gas processing facility.
• Apache signed an MoU with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation to export EGPC’s share of crude from their joint facilities to the global market.
• IBM signed an MoU with the Oil Ministry to support digital transformation and sustainability at ministry-affiliated companies.

AND- More cooperation through the East Mediterranean Gas Forum: The regional gas forum signed two MoUs with the International Energy Forum and the Observatoire Méditerranéen de l'Energie (OME) to work more closely to develop the natural gas sector and accelerate the green transition, with a focus on green hydrogen.