EU expects Egypt to maintain LNG export levels – official

EU expects Egypt to maintain LNG export levels – official

CAIRO - The European Union expects a framework deal between the bloc, Israel and Egypt to allow Egypt to maintain "relatively high volumes" of liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries to Europe, the EU energy commissioner said on Monday.

"Now we have to solve some of the bottleneck issues," Kadri Simson, EU commissioner for energy, told Reuters on the sidelines of an energy conference in Cairo.

"We do expect that, with the help of this MoU (memorandum of understanding), Egypt can keep the relatively high volumes of LNG that it delivered to Europe last year."

Egypt expects to produce about 7.5 million tonnes of LNG this year, in line with production in 2022, when it shipped 80% of its LNG to Europe, Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said at the conference.

Refinitiv data shows that less than 70% of Egypt's LNG exports went to Europe, including Turkey, last year. The reason for the discrepancy was unclear.

Molla said LNG plants were operating at less than full capacity, and could be expanded.

"They are there prepared for the time when we make the decision to increase their capacity to double or triple," he said.

The MoU was signed last June with the aim of boosting exports of Israeli gas