Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla stated that Egypt’s natural gas production can meet all local market demands and that there is a surplus for exports, pointing out that Egypt is working to maximize its contributions to the natural gas field, the ministry said in a statement.

El Molla reiterated that Egypt’s abundant wealth in natural gas makes it the first choice as a fuel during the transitional period.

El Molla’s remarks came during a joint press conference with Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi, Qatari Minister of Energy Affairs, and Mohamed Hamel, Secretary-General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), following GECF’s sixth summit of heads of member states of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in the Qatari capital, Doha.

During the press conference, El Molla thanked Qatar for hosting this important and successful summit and for targeting to maximize the utilization of natural gas.

The conference discussed the importance of natural gas and preparations for a special initiative for the GECF during COP27, which Egypt will host next November, in line with the sustainable goals related to natural gas and its entry into the outcomes of the climate summit, he pointed out.

Explaining the difference between the GECF and the East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF), El Molla highlighted that the two forums have one goal, but all members of the GECF are from natural gas producing countries that actively export, while the EMGF includes producing, consuming, and transit countries. The aim of the EMGF is to enhance regional cooperation for all to benefit from these gas resources, he pointed out. He added that Egypt’s goal is to participate effectively in benefiting from natural gas, which is the fuel of the transitional phase towards clean energies.

Regarding the supply of Egyptian gas to Lebanon, El Molla confirmed that there is already an existing pipeline, the Arab Gas Pipeline, and it was used in the past to supply Egyptian gas to Lebanon, but these operations stopped several years ago. He affirmed that Egypt is working closely with Lebanon to return the export of natural gas through this pipeline again.

El Molla pointed out the challenges in this regard, such as technical challenges in some pipeline sites due to long-term inactivity. Nonetheless, he affirmed work is being done to resolve these issues, which will be completed over the next few weeks.