Egypt is poised to boost LNG exports in the coming weeks, having booked Idku cargoes until the end of March and with the Damietta facility expected to restart by the end of February, Egyptian oil minister Tarek el-Molla said today. "In 2020, the prices were very stressed, very low, and we were not able to export, except a few cargoes throughout the year. Starting from October 2020 until now, we have already booked all our volumes to be exported from the Idku plant, which is east of Alexandria. We have already [booked] cargoes to the end of March," el-Molla said. The minister did not specify whether Idku cargoes had been booked by term customers or sold on a spot basis. Over the course of 2020, the 7.2mn t/yr Idku terminal produced only 19 cargoes, according to Vortexa, down from 54 a year earlier and broadly in line with its term customer purchase obligations. Global LNG prices falling below the cost of Egyptian upstream production provided little incentive to sell on a spot basis.
Operations at Egypt's 4.5mn t/yr Damietta LNG facility are also expected to resume by the end of February, seven years after being idled, following the settlement of arbitration cases with its partners, el-Molla said. "With the reopening of the Damietta plant after settling the arbitration cases with the partners, we expect this to be in operation, or reopening once again, towards the end of February, adding another 4.5mn t/yr," el-Molla said in a broadcast interview with consultancy Gulf Intelligence. This means a total export capacity of 12.5mn t/yr, he added. Damietta halted operations in February 2013, as Egypt declared force majeure on its feedgas supply agreement to the terminal, following disruptions stemming from the 2011 revolution in the country.
Union Fenosa Gas (UFG), a joint venture between Spanish firm Naturgy and Italy's Eni, owns 80pc of Segas, which operates the terminal. The partners have been involved in legal proceedings related to Egypt's force majeure declaration. UFG agreed last year to sell its stake in Segas to Eni and Egyptian state-owned gas distributor Egas. The firm is in the process of restarting the facility and was offering a commissioning cargo loading in late February through a tender issued earlier this month.