Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli held a meeting on Friday afternoon to review the government’s plan to secure the country’s needs of oil and natural gas following the Israeli military operation in Iran. The meeting was attended by Hassan Abdallah, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, Mahmoud Esmat, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, and  Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

During the meeting, the Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mahmoud Esmat, indicated that there is full coordination with the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources regarding supplying power plants with the quantities of gas or diesel required to operate them.

Prior to the meeting, both  Esmat and Badawi visited the Control Center for the National Natural Gas Grid to assess the readiness of the grid to meet the needs of power plants. 

Badawi also briefed the prime minister on the findings of his visit to the site of the landing of the third FSRU at Ain Sokhna Port, to monitor its readiness for the start of operations and connection to the national natural gas grid

The prime minister said that the government plans to have three Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRU)  operating by early July, with a total daily capacity of 2,250 cubic feet, compared to only 1,000 cubic feet last year. He added that adding a fourth unit is currently on the table.

Esmat noted that he met today with leaders from the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy to ensure the stability of the unified grid and the continuity of power supply, review fuel reserves needed to operate production units, and measures needed to achieve optimal fuel utilization.

For the last two years, Egypt has been adopting plans to hedge against the increase in demand on natural gas during the hot summer months. Accordingly, it expanded in exploring for new wells, exploration activities, repaid most of its dues to foreign explorers and offered new conditions in exploration agreements. Contracting new shipments and easing FSRUs are among these measures. 

The precautionary measures intensified after the imports of Israel dropped temporarily during November 2023 on the back of the October 7 attacks.

As Leviathan and Karish, two of Israel’s main gas fields, were closed on Friday, a disruption in exports to Egypt is highly anticipated.