In the last couple of years, Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum has focused to provide fuel needs to the domestic market through contracts on gasification ships to receive Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) shipments, Daily News Egypt wrote.

The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) contracted to import 80 LNG shipments for $2.5-3b in 2016. Gas imports were lifted from 850mcf/d to 1.

1bcf/d, so as not to cut off gas to the industrial sector in light of rising electricity consumption.

Meanwhile, Ain Sokhna port was equipped to receive LNG and was linked to the national gas grid.

The first gasification vessel resumed operations in April 2015, with a capacity of 500mcf/d. The second vessel joined in September producing 750mcf/d. In addition, the ministry had signed a contract to build a third pier, in preparation for inaugurating a third vessel in the Q2 of 2017, bringing the total import capacity to about 2bcf/d.

Next to securing the market need of gas, the Ministry of Petroleum contracted with Arab countries to supply shipments of petroleum products with facilities in payment to reduce the pressure on the state budget.

In May, the Ministry submitted a new plan to the president. The plan included 12 gas projects to add 5.5bcf/d of gas and 20,000 barrels of condensates by the end of 2019.