The Ministry of Petroleum talks with its Cypriot counterpart aim to increase the Egyptian market’s share of Cypriot natural gas to approximately 35%, up from an initial range of 20 to 25%, in an attempt to mitigate gas supply disruptions, a senior source at the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) told Al Manassa.
The proposed share would be drawn from total output expected from the Cronos and Aphrodite fields, which together are projected to produce around 1.7 billion cubic feet per day.
The move comes as Egypt seeks to reduce its reliance on Israeli gas imports, which have been subject to periodic disruptions amid regional tensions. Israel suspended gas exports to Egypt at the end of February, before partially resuming flows on a limited scale.
Egypt has simultaneously moved to curb domestic gas consumption, particularly in the power sector, which accounts for the bulk of demand.
On Monday, Egypt and Cyprus inked a framework deal on natural gas cooperation to maximize the benefit of Cypriot resources by transporting them to Egypt to meet domestic demand and leverage existing infrastructure.
This agreement stands as a continuation of several deals signed in February 2025, which targeted the re-export and marketing of Cypriot gas. At that time, the primary goal was to liquefy gas from the Cronos and Aphrodite fields at the Idku and Damietta plants before exporting it as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
The outbreak of the US–Israeli war on Iran has pushed Egypt to accelerate efforts to diversify its energy sources, as mounting pressure on gas availability and interruptions to Israeli gas supplies continue to reshape supply planning.
Despite these constraints, Egypt is still moving ahead with plans to re-export part of the Cypriot gas, with bilateral talks progressing more positively on the allocation of volumes between exports and the domestic market, depending on seasonal demand in summer and winter, the EGAS official explained.
Egypt is currently facing a gas deficit exceeding 2.2 billion cubic feet per day, which could rise to around 3 billion cubic feet per day during the summer of 2026 due to the widening gap between domestic production and consumption, the source added.
Egypt’s liquefaction plants, which began operating in 2005, stopped for eight years before resuming activity in 2021 as part of a government push to boost LNG exports and strengthen the country’s role as a regional energy hub.
With energy import costs rising sharply, Egypt is grappling with the repercussions of the war on Iran, particularly in the energy sector, given its reliance on fuel imports, as disruptions to oil and gas production and trade continue across the Middle East.
