By Murat Temizer
ANKARA
Egypt from April 2015 onwards will become an importer country of gas and oil with its deal with Algeria to import six cargoes of LNG, the Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ministry of Egypt said.
Egypt’s Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail and Algerian Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi held bilateral cooperation talks on Thursday. Algerian Energy Company Sonatrach and Egyptian oil and Gas Company Egas reached a deal, which will be signed at the end of this month, to supply six shipments of Algerian LNG during the period between April and September 2015.
In May 2013, Egypt's Oil Ministry announced its decision to import natural gas. One year after the announcement in November 2014, Egypt signed a five-year deal with Norway’s Hoegh LNG. Norway and Egypt made a deal for the supply of a regasification unit, which is expected to generate on average $40 million annually. The regasification unit will be operational in March 2015.
Despite the fact that for the past several years, the country tries to boost its natural gas production, Egypt has the third largest gas reserves in Africa after Nigeria and Algeria. The country has the largest oil refinery capacity in Africa, although it operates well below capacity.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Egypt's total oil consumption grew by an annual average of 3 percent over the past 10 years and it has outpaced production since 2010. Additionally from 2009 to 2013, the country’s refinery output declined by 28 percent despite growing domestic oil consumption. As a result Egypt needs to import petroleum and natural gas.
In Africa, Egypt is the largest oil and natural gas consumer. The country consumed more than 20 percent of total oil consumption and more than 40 percent of total dry natural gas consumption in Africa in 2013.
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