Egypt will begin exporting three liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments per month starting in November. This will be under a new arrangement with foreign extraction firms designed to recover outstanding dues and stimulate fresh investment, a senior source at the Petroleum Ministry told Al Manassa.
The move comes as state-owned EGAS finalizes expanded coordination with Italy’s Eni and the UK’s BP, who join existing export partners Shell and Petronas in ramping up output. The shipments will continue until the end of March, ahead of a projected spike in domestic demand during the summer.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agreement was reached to partially repay foreign companies through export profits while encouraging them to increase spending on exploration and production.
Earlier this month, Egypt dispatched a shipment to Italy via the Edku liquefaction terminal. The government had reportedly agreed to two shipments per month, now raised to three.
Egypt’s LNG exports have plunged since 2023 due to soaring domestic use, but the deepening crisis in the country’s petroleum trade balance—now facing a $13.9 billion deficit for fiscal year 2024/2025—has forced the government to intensify export efforts.
Each shipment from Edku will carry 130,000 to 155,000 cubic meters of LNG, which the source described as generating a “strong profit margin” for the foreign firms claiming the cargo.
The move is part of a wider strategy to cement Egypt’s role as a regional gas hub, using liquefaction plants in Edku and Damietta to re-export gas from neighboring countries to Europe.
The ramp-up follows a decline in domestic gas consumption, which fell to 6.4 billion cubic feet per day in Q4, down from 6.9 billion in Q3 of 2025, the source revealed to Al Manassa.
“There’s a real window for Egypt to scale up exports to Europe,” they added, referencing the European Union’s policy to end Russian gas imports by 2027. “If we double output or reroute surplus from our neighbors, we can lock in long-term contracts within two years.”
The Petroleum Ministry is targeting 6.6 billion cubic feet per day in gas production by 2027, up from 4.2 billion now—enough to cover 65% of national demand. The ministry plans to auction new exploration blocks to increase recoverable reserves, the ministry source explained.
The gas sector has experienced whiplash in the past decade, first booming after the Zohr discovery, which allowed Egypt to briefly reach self-sufficiency in 2018, before declining sharply post-2023.
