Egypt plans to open significant sites – up to two thirds of the territory of the country – for the geological exploration by the foreign companies. The Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources of Egypt has invited a tender for geological exploration of eight oil and gas blocs in the Mediterranean Sea.
In March 2015 the first batch of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be delivered to Egypt, but by 2020 the authoriteis are going to start export of their own gas.
In the coming five years Egypt plans to import as minimum 80 batches of liquefied gas to satisfy the local demand and also increase production of natural gas and resume its export, said Khamdi Abdel Aiz, chief of Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Oil of Egypt.
Egypt has signed agreements to deliver significant volume of LNG in the coming future, including one with Gasprom for 35 tankers. During two years Trafigura AG (33), Vitol SA (9) and Noble Clean Fuels Ltd (7) have won the tender for delivery of 75 LNG tankers, the talks with BP have not been completed yet. Six deliveries of Algerian Sonatrach are expected from April to September. The first LNG terminal must be put into operation in Egypt in March for these contracts.
