Egypt Takes Delivery of Second LNG Import Terminal

Egypt took delivery of its second liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal on Wednesday and plans to start operations in the third week of October, Khaled Abdel Badie, boss of state gas board EGAS, told Reuters on Wednesday.

The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), provided by Singapore-based Norwegian group BW Gas, has a capacity of 600 to 700 million cubic feet per day, the oil ministry said.

FSRUs allow Egypt to import LNG and convert it to natural gas to feed into its energy-starved power grid.

Egypt took delivery of its first FSRU from Norway's Hoegh LNG in April, allowing the country to begin LNG imports.

Once an energy exporter, declining oil and gas production and increasing consumption has forced Egypt to divert energy supplies to the domestic market and have turned it into a net energy importer.

The deal with BW Gas was worth about $60 million per year, then-oil minister Sherif Ismail told Reuters in August. Ismail is now prime minister.

The BW Gas terminal arrived and will remain at the Gulf of Suez port of Ain al-Sokhna port where the Heogh terminal is also moored.