Israeli gas primarily serves the local market and is also exported to Jordan and Egypt, which liquefies the gas and exports it to Europe.
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Sun, Oct. 8, 2023
Egypt's imports of Israeli gas for export purposes are expected to increase by about 30% in the near future, as per Tarek El Molla, the Minister of Petroleum. This follows the Egyptian-Israeli-European gas agreement, which has already led to a 40% increase in the quantity of gas imported from Israel to Egypt since January 2021.
El Molla mentioned in a recent interview with Asharq Business with Bloomberg that Egypt's current gas production rate is approximately 6 billion cubic feet per day. The stability of these rates by the end of the current fiscal year depends on companies' commitment to implementing field development and growth operations to achieve production targets.
Israeli gas primarily serves the local market and is also exported to Jordan and Egypt, which liquefies the gas and exports it to Europe.
Israel began exporting natural gas to Egypt in January 2020, marking the most significant deal since the Camp David Peace Accords between the two countries in 1979.
Israel aims to increase gas supplies to Egypt, as the government approved a plan in May of last year to build a pipeline in the south of the country, stretching 65 kilometers to the border with Egypt, to transport 6 billion cubic meters of gas annually.
Egypt has two natural gas liquefaction plants with a total daily production capacity of 2.1 billion cubic feet, and exports depend on its surplus production and gas imports from neighboring countries.
El Molla also predicted the completion of the Gaza Marine field development project in less than two years, through a consortium of Egyptian private companies led by the government-owned “EGAS”, in partnership with Palestinian entities.
The Gaza Marine field, located about 30 kilometers off the coast of Gaza between the Leviathan and Tamar gas fields, contains over a trillion cubic feet of natural gas, significantly more than the Palestinian territories' needs.
The field is seen as an opportunity for the Palestinian Authority, which is suffering from a lack of funds, to join the gas boom in the eastern Mediterranean, providing a significant source of income to reduce its dependence on foreign aid and Israeli energy.