Israel is gradually resuming natural gas exports to Egypt from the offshore Leviathan field, the online portal “Enterprise News“ reports, citing a government source, BTA reports.
After the start of the military operation against Iranian nuclear sites, the Israeli authorities temporarily suspended production from the “Leviathan“ and “Karish“ fields, terminating natural gas exports to Egypt and Jordan. As a result, the two Arab countries declared an energy emergency, diverting available gas to power plants and imposing restrictions on supplies to industry.
Current supplies to Egypt amount to about 200 million cubic feet per day - significantly below the previous level of 800 million. Volumes are expected to gradually increase to 850 million cubic feet per day in July and August.
In response to the stabilization of supplies, the Egyptian government restored gas supplies to some industrial enterprises. According to information from the „Reuters“ agency, a number of local fertilizer plants were forced to stop work due to the shortage of Israeli gas.
Meanwhile, the „Al Arabiya“ reported that the Egyptian cabinet is considering raising natural gas prices for the industrial sector to offset the cost of importing liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Egypt has already secured long-term contracts with six of the 14 companies that applied to state-owned EGAS. They envisage the delivery of between 80 and 100 LNG shipments per year, with the option to increase to 120 shipments. The agreements include a premium of US$0.70 over international market prices.