Egypt has activated an emergency gas supply plan as it frantically tries to cope with the impact of the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, which has already seen piped exports to Egypt cut from Israel’s offshore Leviathan field.
The Egyptian Petroleum Ministry said in a Jun. 13 statement that it would halt gas supply to “some industrial activities while raising the consumption of diesel power plants to the maximum available quantity and … to operate some solar plants.” In the meantime, it is seeking to connect new floating import terminals to the grid.
US Chevron, operator of the 22 trillion cubic foot Leviathan and 11 Tcf Tamar offshore gas fields, confirmed that Tamar flows continue despite the temporary shutdown of Leviathan since Jun. 13. Egypt was receiving around 1 billion cubic feet per day before the shutdown.
Israeli piped gas has acted as a lifeline to Egypt amid its second gas crunch in a decade, accounting for some 15% of Egypt’s overall supply, according to International Energy Agency data. In four years, Israeli exports to Egypt have surged almost 80% from 2.2 billion cubic meters (80.17 Bcf) in 2020 to 10 Bcm last year, Israeli energy ministry data from Israeli consultancy BDO shows.
