Egyptian gas demand hits record high in 2018

Egyptian gas demand hit a record high last year, although is rose at a slower rate than in 2017, according to distributor Gasco.

The firm received and distributed 61.5bn m³, or 168mn m³/d, last year, up by 6pc on 2017, company president Yasser Salah said.

The power sector accounted for 63pc of demand, Salah said, against 62pc in 2017.

The 6pc increase is in line with growth in January-November, when Egyptian demand rose to 165mn m³/d from 156mn m³/d a year earlier, figures from the Egyptian statistical centre show. But a volume of 168mn m³/d is 8pc higher than the figure Gasco released last year that show 56.9bn m³ distributed in 2017.

But either way, last year's growth is lower than the 2017's 11pc increase, and in line with 2016's rise of 7pc.

There could be limited scope for firmer demand to curb LNG exports this summer. Demand rising in line with last year's rate would still leave sufficient feedgas available for the 7.2mn t/yr Idku plant to run at full capacity this summer, as new fields come on stream.

And Egypt could start receiving commercial flows of Israeli gas by the end of the second quarter, with test flows expected to start by the end of this month.

That said, the first part of the contract Egypt signed with Israeli producers allows for deliveries from the Tamar field to start on an interruptible basis. And Israel might have little gas surplus to send to Egypt until the Leviathan field comes on stream at the end of the year, especially during peak summer demand periods.

Last week, Egypt' state-owned Egas issued its first LNG supply tender since resuming net LNG exports in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Egypt aims to develop its gas distribution network to allow domestically produced gas to reach more customers, oil minister Tarek El Molla said. The 7,620km network can currently carry 240mn m³/d, he added.