Egypt boosts LNG exports by 14% in 2022, more volumes go to Europe: minister

Egypt will boost its LNG exports by 14% to 8 million mt/year in 2022, the country's petroleum and mineral resources minister said Nov. 27, as the North African producer seeks to plug a hole left by lower Russian imports into the European Union.

About 90% of this year's LNG exports are heading to European Union countries, compared with 80% in 2021, Tarek El-Molla said in a ministry statement.

Europe -- which is seeking to phase out its imports of Russian gas following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine -- has also engaged with Israel on the potential to supply Israeli gas to Europe via Egypt.

In June, the European Commission, Israel and Egypt signed a trilateral memorandum of understanding on the supply of Israeli gas via Egypt's LNG export infrastructure to the EU.

Egypt has two LNG export facilities -- the 7.2 million mt/year Shell-operated Idku facility and the smaller Eni-operated 5 million mt/year Damietta plant.

Higher gas output

The two plants are considered key to European efforts to source additional LNG, including gas sourced from Israel.

Egypt is a major gas producing country and has increased its production in recent years. The country has massive offshore gas resources, including the giant Zohr field.

Total Egyptian gas production reached 71 Bcm in 2021, according to energy ministry data, up by 10 Bcm from 2020.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, on Nov. 25 assessed the JKM price benchmark for January at $31.577/MMBtu, up 0.67% on the day. The marker rose to an all-time high of $84.762/MMBtu on March 7 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sparked concerns of a supply crunch and rising prices in the Atlantic.