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EU expects Egyptian LNG deliveries

to remain “relatively high” in 2023

EGYPT THE European Union expects deliveries of domestic gas fields as well as imports from Israel.
Egyptian LNG to remain “relatively high” in Rising domestic demand and infrastructure
2023, EU commissioner for energy Kadri Sim- constraints have curbed LNG exports. But with
son told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy Egypt struggling with an acute dollar shortage,
conference in Cairo on February 13. the cash-strapped country has been seeking to
Egypt’s Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla save gas for export.
revealed at the conference that he expects the Molla acknowledged that the country’s LNG
country will produce around 7.5mn tonnes of terminals were operating at less than full capac-
LNG this year, roughly equivalent to production ity. However, industry experts believe that the
in 2022. Last year, nearly 70% of Egypt’s LNG facilities will need modification or construction
exports were sent to Europe, including Turkey, of new production chains if there is to be a sig-
according to data from Refinitiv. nificant jump in exports.
In June 2022, a memorandum of under- “We see that there is spare capacity in liq-
standing (MoU) was signed between the EU, uefaction facilities here in Egypt, but exact
Israel and Egypt. Currently, Israeli gas from volumes were not part of our memorandum of
the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Haifa is understanding,” the minister said. ™.
transported by pipeline to liquefaction plants on
Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, whence it is then
delivered to Europe.
Egypt is home to two liquefaction plants. The
Idku Egyptian LNG (ELNG) plant, situated east
of Alexandria, has two liquefaction trains with a
combined capacity of 7.5mn tons per year (tpy).
Meanwhile, the Damietta LNG plant located
west of Port Said possesses one liquefaction train
with a production capacity of 5.2mn tpy.
After being idle since 2012, Italy’s Eni
restarted the Damietta LNG facility in 2021.
With the terminal coming back online, Egypt
has now sought to position itself as a regional
energy hub with LNG production from The Damietta LNG plant has a production capacity of 5.2mn tpy (Photo: Weitz)

AGOCO head sees Libya’s crude

output hitting 1.5mn bpd in 2023

LIBYA LIBYA is on track to produce more than 1.5mn declaration of force majeure it had made on oil
barrels per day (bpd) of oil in 2023 as the coun- and gas production in December last year, say-
try stabilises and as development operations ing that this move would encourage foreign oil
continue, the head of the Arabian Gulf Oil Com- firms to resume their much-needed operations
pany (AGOCO) said in an interview with Libya in Libya.
Herald on Monda, February 13. The North African country is currently pro-
Several oilfields have resumed regular com- ducing nearly 1.2mn bpd of oil. Last month, Oil
mercial operations and several new projects Minister Mohammed Oun said that the country
are currently in preparation. However, further hopes to push output back up to the 2010 level
increases in oil production will largely depend of 1.6mn bpd within the next two to three years.
on the improvement of the political situation in AGOCO is currently working with state-
the war-torn country. owned National Oil Corp. (NOC) to develop
The Libyan government decided to lift the reserves and increase crude production.

Week 07 16•February•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P9