Egypt is seeking to buy more fuel oil on which to run some of its power plants as natural gas supply is more expensive for the cash-strapped North African country.
State-controlled Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) is looking to buy via a tender nearly 2 million tons of fuel oil to be delivered in May and June, a source with direct knowledge of the plans told Bloomberg on Friday.
North African and Middle Eastern countries often turn to oil and direct crude burn for power generation, especially with spiking demand for air conditioning during scorching summer temperatures.
Egypt’s domestic natural gas output has been declining and the country has now become a net LNG importer, from a net LNG exporter just a year ago.
Egypt has had to boost its LNG imports in recent months, to meet rising demand.
Earlier this week, state firm Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) signed a 10-year agreement with Hoegh Evi to have it deploy a floating LNG import unit near Alexandria on the Mediterranean, as the North African country struggles to meet soaring gas and power demand amid dwindling domestic production.
The conversion of Hoegh Gandria into a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) will begin immediately.
The FSRU Hoegh Gandria will be deployed in the fourth quarter of 2026 to the Port of Sumed and will supply up to 1,000 mmscf/day of peak LNG regasification capacity, making it a critical part of Egypt’s diversified and flexible energy infrastructure, Hoegh Evi said.
Höegh LNG Holdings Ltd announced in May 2024 an agreement between Höegh LNG, Australian Industrial Energy Pty Ltd (AIE), and Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) for the deployment of the Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) Hoegh Galleon, to support energy security in Egypt.
The new FSRU, Hoegh Gandria, will replace the Hoegh Galleon, which is currently Egypt’s only operational LNG import terminal.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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