Egypt, EU expected to sign energy supply deal soon in shift away from Russian gas

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Sat, 04 Jun 2022 - 05:40 GMT

BY

Sat, 04 Jun 2022 - 05:40 GMT

Courtesy of Reuters

Courtesy of Reuters

CAIRO - 4 June 2022: Egypt and the European Union (EU) are expected to sign a deal later in June on gas supply as the European Union is working on reducing its reliance on Russian gas supplies, according to a draft document obtained by Bloomberg.

According to Bloomberg, the deal will involve Israel, which will send gas to the EU after being liquified in Egypt.

This comes in the wake of Russia’s decision to cut off gas supplies to a number of European countries, including Germany and Denmark, which refused to pay for Russian natural gas imports in rubles in the wake of the ongoing Russian invasion on Ukraine since February.

Egypt, a country that has achieved self-sufficiency in natural gas since 2018, had gas export revenues of $3.9 billion in the first four months of 2022.

This represents the revenues Egypt obtained in the whole year of 2021, which stood at $3.959 billion up from $456 million in 2020 according to Reuters.

Details about the gas deal are still unclear but European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is expected to visit Egypt later this month, during which the deal may be inked, according to media reports.

In April, a framework agreement was signed between the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and Italian oil firm Eni for cooperation in the field of natural gas to export liquified natural gas (LNG) to Europe.

The deal aims at making the optimal use of Egypt's natural gas reserves by maximizing production capabilities in a way that enables EGAS to explore new opportunities to increase production.

It also aims at benefitting from great potentials available in Egypt in the field of oil exploration, especially in the Nile Delta, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Western Desert.

The framework agreement provides an opportunity to export LNG shipments from the Damietta LNG plant to Italy and other European countries.

Eni 2015 discovered the super giant Zohr gas field in Egypt in 2015, representing one of the biggest-ever offshore gas discoveries in the Mediterranean.

Egypt is looking forward to becoming a major player in the global LNG market.

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