Egypt’s share of international Liquified natural gas (LNG) exports market jumped to 1% in 2019 after exporting about 3.5 million ton (MT), a 2 MT increase compared to 1.4 MT in 2018, according to the The World LNG report .

According to the report, the increase in Egypt exports was driven by IDKU LNG reaching full export capacity at the end of 2019.

Egypt was one of the countries that reinforced African Exports that reached 5.7 MT in 2019.

Asian markets came on the top of Egypt’s LNG exports destinations with 1.2 MT .

The report elaborated that the Global LNG trade increased by 40.9 MT reaching to 354.7 MT since the end of 2018 representing a growth of around 13%, a sixth year of consecutive growth.

“Egypt was the world’s eighth biggest LNG exporter in 2009 with three trains operating at two facilities, but the population growth and the energy subsidies fueled domestic consumption in line with unattractive investment regime led Egypt to prioritize domestic needs over gas export,” the report said . As a result, the Egyptian market stopped LNG exports and began importing LNG via two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), but Egypt managed to become self-sufficient in natural gas again in late 2018 and the Egyptian LNG Idku facility has been exporting at reduced rates since 2016, the report added.

The report said that 2020 to signal a potential increase in LNG exports from Egypt, with Idku expected to reach its full capacity by the end of 2019, and the Damietta facility is also expected to begin exporting LNG again after resolving the disputes between the Damietta shareholders and the Egyptian government.