The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) has halted gas supplies to major fertilizer manufacturers as the facilities undergo annual maintenance procedures and EGAS aims at rerouting a total supply of 177mcf/d of gas to power plants in order to cover increased energy demand during August, reported Daily News Egypt.
According to Al Borsa, EGAS started to reroute an estimated 135mcf/d of gas consumed by the Old Misr Fertilizers Production Company (MOPCO), El Masreya 1, Alexandria Fertilizers, and Methanex Corporation for Petrochemicals, which have launched their maintenance work early August, and is expected to last for 15 to 20 days. A further 42mcf/d of gas will be rerouted once Helwan Fertilizers Company (HFC) starts maintenance activities in the second half of August.
In a correspondence to fertilizer plants, EGAS requested the manufacturers to schedule annual maintenance during August in order to divert their supply of gas towards electricity production, as the demand for power increases during the peak summer month.