State-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) has revealed that it plans to postpone the deliveries of over 45 LNG shipments signed with companies and nations including Oman and Russia to the 2017-18 financial year.

According to an EGAS source, the company is looking to import between 110 to 120 shipments of LNG in the 2017-18 financial year and has started preparing a timetable for the shipments. However, the source did not disclose the reason behind the shipments.The company source added that a three-year supply agreement signed with Gaz de France (GDF) for 12 shipments of LNG will also be postponed to the next financial year.Former EGAS boss, Khaled Abdel Badei, had said that Egypt’s bill for LNG shipments for the 2016-17 financial year will increase to $3 billion, Energy Egypt reports.

Let us recall that in October, 2014, EGAS offered a bid for the supply of LNG, and seven companies applied, including British Petroleum (BP), Vitol, Trafigura, and Golar, as well as three other companies.The awarded companies were Vitol, Noble Energy, and BP, and they were to supply 75 shipments of LNG within two years, starting from March 2015.

However, in July of 2015, the state-owned firm issued a second international bid for foreign companies to supply 45 liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments until the end of 2016, to meet the local market’s LNG requirements and to fill the current gap between domestic production and consumption of natural gas until the completion of the new gas field development projects in the country.

Anita Fatunji