EGYPT NEED LNG

BLOOMBERG - May 12, 2025 - Egypt signed a 10-year deal for a floating liquefied natural gas import terminal, signaling the North African nation’s long-term dependency on fuel imports.

Under an agreement between state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. and Höegh Evi Ltd., the Hoegh Gandria will be deployed at the port of Sumed, near Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast, in the fourth quarter of 2026, Höegh Evi said in a statement to Bloomberg. The vessel, which has been serving as an LNG carrier, will immediately begin its conversion to a floating storage and regasification unit.

Rising domestic demand, hot summers and rapidly deteriorating local production mean Egypt needs to buy increasing volumes of LNG. The country has already made plans to add several units to import the fuel and is in talks with Qatar over long-term gas supply contracts from the Gulf emirate.

The energy deficit in the Middle East’s most populous nation more than doubled last year to $11.3 billion, compared with $4.4 billion a year earlier and a surplus of $4.1 billion of in 2022, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The shortage raised the country’s current account deficit last year to 6.2% of gross domestic product from 3.2%.

The Hoegh Gandria, supplying as much as 1,000 million standard cubic feet of gas a day at peak capacity, will replace the Hoegh Galleon, which now serves as Egypt’s only operational LNG import terminal. Höegh Evi, a marine-energy infrastructure company, provided that vessel to Egypt for 19 to 20 months last year when the nation made a dramatic turn from a net LNG exporter to a net importer.

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