The drone strike that hit two vessels at Damietta Port has forced the floating regasification vessel Energos Winter out of service, cutting nearly one-tenth of Egypt’s daily natural gas supply, or around 650 million cubic feet per day, a source familiar with production at the Ministry of Petroleum told Al Manassa.
The source, who spoke to Al Manassa on condition of anonymity, said the vessel had been disconnected from the national gas grid and towed away from the port after the fire caused by the strike was brought under control.The liquefied natural gas carrier GasLog Salem, which was also affected by the fire, had only recently arrived at the port and had not yet begun operations.
On Thursday morning, the government announced that preliminary investigations had found that the fire that broke out aboard the two vessels on Wednesday evening was caused by a drone strike, for which no party has claimed responsibility, adding that investigations are ongoing to determine the circumstances of the incident.
Nearly one-tenth of market consumption
Energos Winter, owned by US company Energos Infrastructure and chartered by the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), is one of the main pillars of Egypt’s liquefied natural gas import system. The vessel has a storage capacity of 138,250 cubic meters and a regasification capacity of up to 650 million cubic feet per day.
The source added that EGAS signed a contract last July with New Fortress Energy to manage and operate the vessel’s technical operations as part of a government plan to expand liquefied natural gas receiving and regasification capacity to meet domestic demand and support export capabilities.
The source said the vessel’s outage has reduced the volume of gas available to the domestic market by about 9.5%. It had been receiving around six LNG cargoes per month, totaling approximately 920,000 cubic meters, which, after regasification, produced around 19.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
The vessel also held around 3.18 billion cubic feet of gas in storage on a rolling basis for use during periods of peak demand or emergencies, the source added, increasing the impact of its shutdown on the country’s gas supply system.
The source noted that domestic demand stands at around 6.8 billion cubic feet per day, with the largest share going to power plants, which consume about 3.9 billion cubic feet daily, in addition to energy-intensive industries.
The Ministry of Petroleum will, over the coming hours, redistribute available gas supplies among different sectors, prioritizing power plants to avoid any impact on the stability of the electricity grid, the source said.
One month before operations resume
Meanwhile, a source on the Damietta LNG Company board of directors told Al Manassa that the timeline for returning Energos Winter to service remains under technical assessment in coordination with the relevant authorities. The evaluation includes inspections of the marine berth and the pipeline connections to the national gas grid, as well as operating and safety systems.
The Damietta LNG source, who also requested anonymity, said preparation work and testing in similar cases typically take around one month, depending on the extent of the damage and the readiness of the infrastructure, making it likely that the vessel will return to service next month if no additional repairs are required.
The source explained that restarting floating regasification units requires pressure and safety tests, calibration of the regasification systems, and verification that the connection to the national gas grid is functioning properly before commercial gas injections can resume.
Over the past two years, Egypt has expanded its fleet of leased floating regasification units after becoming a net gas importer during periods of peak summer demand, amid declining domestic production and rising electricity consumption. As a result, the temporary loss of Energos Winter represents a test of the gas system’s ability to compensate for around one-tenth of daily supplies.
