Egypt is moving towards becoming a gas-based economy thanks to self-sufficiency in natural gas that was achieved in 2018, the country’s energy minister said.

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla told the ADIPEC virtual conference that gas development projects attracted $30 billion worth of investments in the past five years paving the way for self-sufficiency.

He said the country has converted all its thermal power plants to natural gas and started programmes to provide households and the transport sector with gas-based alternatives.

“In the past six years, we successfully connected five million Egyptian households to the natural gas grid, which is a huge breakthrough. This number represents 45 percent of the total number of 11.2 million households connected to natural gas in the past 40 years.”

El Molla said the country has also expanded the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in vehicles as part of national goal to drive economic growth through natural gas.

“We have 330,000 converted-vehicles on the road fuelled through 215 CNG stations with a plan to reach more than 600 stations and additional 260,000 converted vehicles by 2023,” he said.

Regional role

Egypt’s domestic achievements has also set the stage for the country to play a prominent role in the region’s natural gas sector.

In September, Egypt’s efforts to forge a forum for the region’s gas producers, consumers and transit countries, initiated in 2018, came to fruition with the establishment of East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF).

“Back 2018, Egypt took the initiative to push for the establishment of EMGF based on the significance of regional cooperation and the vital role of natural gas in global energy transition. EMGF was officially established in 22 September 2020 with Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan and Palestine."

El Molla said EMGF aims to create a regional gas market by securing supply and demand, optimising sources, resource development, and cost of infrastructure, improved commercial relationships and competitive pricing, and by efficiently utilising existing and new infrastructure.

“EMGF has also established a Gas Industry Advisory Committee to enhance cooperation with the private sector and accelerate projects and direct investments,” he noted.

(Reporting by Anoop Menon; editing by Seban Scaria)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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