Reuters: Egypt Aims to Halt Gas Imports in 2020

Egypt hopes to halt liquefied natural gas imports in 2020, Oil Minister Sherif Ismail said on Monday, as projects to develop its own gas fields are completed.

The Arab world's most populous nation is struggling to cope with energy demand from a population of 85 million. Demand now outstrips production of oil and gas from fields in the Western Desert, Nile Delta and offshore.

Ismail told Reuters in an interview that "we are targeting to stop importing gas with ... the completion of developing gas field projects."

He added the caveat that this would be as long as there was no need to meet additional demand with imports.

Egypt announced this year contracts for LNG imports with Vitol, Noble Group, and BP, part of tender to provide 75 LNG cargoes, which Ismail reiterated would cover demand for two years. MORE