Egypt is no longer receiving natural gas from Israel. The problem also lies with the EU
Egypt's natural gas imports have stopped, the government in Cairo said on Sunday, in a development that reflects the impact of the Gaza conflict on the North African nation and could destroy hopes of a recovery in exports to Europe.
The government, explaining the reasons for the expansion of power outages that have rattled the country for months, said natural gas imports fell from 22 million cubic meters/day to zero at a time when temperatures hotter than usually led to an increase in electricity demand.
The halt to gas imports appears linked to a decision taken earlier this month by Israeli authorities to close the Tamar offshore gas field over fears it could be affected by clashes between its military and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Chevron Corp., which operates the gas field that Israel ordered closed, as well as another major field that has boosted production, could not immediately comment. The company had said on Friday that it would continue to honor some of its contracts with Egypt.
The European gas market is carefully watching what is happening, because part of the LNG supplies comes from that country. Egypt imports gas from Israel and then exports some of it to Europe as LNG. Italian oil giant Eni said last week it expected Egypt to restart gas exports as domestic demand falls.
In Egypt, power cuts have been in place since mid-year, with officials linking them to unusually high temperatures coupled with cost-saving measures as the country grapples with its worst currency crisis in decades. The government said other factors affecting power outages include a decline in electricity from renewable energy sources.
The cuts, which officials had managed to limit to about an hour a day, have become another source of frustration for Egyptians already suffering record inflation linked to three currency devaluations since the start of 2022.
Israel has closed the Tamar field, but not Leviathan, the largest one, which continues to produce and the gas should arrive in Egypt via Jordan. So some doubts about the shortage of gas in Egypt, however, exist.
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The article Egypt is no longer receiving natural gas from Israel. The problem also concerns the EU and comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/legitto-non-sta-ricevendo-piu-gas-naturale-da-israele-il-problema-e-anche-della-ue/ on Mon, 30 Oct 2023 12:14:29 +0000.