By Marwa Yahya
CAIRO, Sept 16 (NNN-XINHUA) – Egypt has been expanding the scope of exporting energy, especially natural gas and electricity, to accelerate the implementation of its vision for turning into a regional and international energy hub, according to Egyptian experts.
Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon agreed on Sept 8, to pipe Egyptian natural gas to Lebanon via Jordan and Syria, to solve the energy crisis in Lebanon.
“Delivering natural gas to Lebanon was an expectation that has been planned for a long time,” said Osamah Kamal, a former Egyptian petroleum minister.
He stressed that, delivering Egyptian natural gas to Lebanon is very beneficial for achieving integration among regional countries.
Egypt increased its gas exports, following the re-operating of Damietta port station, for liquidating and exporting gas in Feb, after an eight-year hiatus, from which Egypt has exported nearly 17 vessels of liquidated gas to the Asian and European markets since July.
Egypt’s production capacity of natural gas per day reaches seven billion cubic feet, according to official statistics.
“Egypt is ambitious to increase the natural gas exports. It signed deals with several countries, such as Israel and Cyprus, to import gas from Egypt, or liquidate gas in our stations, ahead of re-exporting it to Europe,” Kamal added.
He explained that Cyprus owns rich gas reserves, but it couldn’t benefit from it, and the only solution is to connect the Cypriot gas with the Egyptian network of liquidation for either re-exporting it to Europe or for local consumption in Egypt.
The Egyptian-Cypriot deal is beneficial for both sides as Cyprus wouldn’t have to build infrastructure for exploring and liquidating gas, while Egypt will make more gains by operating its liquidation stations.
The former minister said, the integration among regional countries will add political calm, and countries with common economic interests will work on preventing disputes.
“Egypt has taken major steps to turn into a regional energy hub, such as establishing the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, that includes ten important countries,” Kamal said, adding that, exporting gas and electricity gives greater weight to Egypt, enhances its global position and attracts investments.
Meanwhile, Medhat Youssef, former chairman of Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, noted that, delivering gas to Lebanon is a very positive step, given the economic and social sufferings of the Lebanese people.
He agreed that liquidating the Cypriot gas in Egypt will bring economic revenues for both countries and pave the way for more European investments in Egypt.
“Egypt is the only country in the eastern Mediterranean that is able to circulate gas among the regional countries,” Youssef said.
On Sept 4, the energy ministers of Cyprus and Egypt signed a Memorandum of Understanding for electricity interconnection between the two countries.
“Egypt is keen on extending electricity grid to Cyprus, Greece and eventually to other European countries,” said Ayman Hamzah, spokesman for the Ministry of Electricity.
Hamzah said, “Egypt has already been exporting electricity to Jordan, Sudan and Libya.”
He added, Egypt-Jordan-Iraq tripartite committee has been formed to meet Iraq’s needs of electricity, adding that, Egypt’s reserve of electricity exceeds 25 percent of the production.
The Ministry of Electricity made great efforts on advancing the electricity networks with other countries, Hamzah said, adding, “exporting Egyptian electricity to neighbouring countries is very significant for enhancing relations between Egypt and those countries.”– NNN-XINHUA
