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Egypt discusses importation of Qatari natural gas

14 May 2025

Egypt is exploring partnerships with Qatar to import natural gas in order to meet domestic demand, according to a statement.

Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi met with Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Bin Sherida Al-Kaabi to explore ways to accelerate the implementation of joint natural gas projects, the statement said.

The two sides discussed signing long-term contracts to supply natural gas from Qatar to meet local needs.

They also discussed enhancing cooperation in energy infrastructure to achieve common interests, given both countries’ potential in liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading and liquefaction and regasification activities.

Separately, the potential to boost cooperation in research and exploration to expand production capacity from QatarEnergy’s concession areas in Egypt was discussed.

The two ministers discussed the latest developments in QatarEnergy’s drilling plans, particularly in Egypt’s Nefertari, Cairo and Masry regions.

Al-Kaabi expressed QatarEnergy’s interest in expanding operations and increasing investments in research and exploration in Egypt.

Recently, QatarEnergy, the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and Chevron agreed to a deal that will see QatarEnergy acquire some of Chevron’s stake in the North El-Dabaa offshore block.

During the meeting, Badawi and Al-Kaabi discussed potential investment opportunities in Egypt’s oil, gas and petrochemicals sectors.

In February, MEED revealed that the total value of active Egyptian gas projects had fallen by 79% since the start of 2019.

The decline comes amid a steep drop in domestic gas output, which has increased the need for costly imports.

At the start of 2019, the total value of active gas projects in Egypt was $41.5bn. By February this year, it had sunk to $8.6bn, according to data from regional project tracker MEED Projects.

Despite the billions of dollars of investment in upstream projects in Egypt’s gas sector in recent years, production has been dropping since it peaked in 2021, according to the Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy.

In 2021, Egypt produced 67.8 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas. This fell to 64.5 bcm in 2022 and 57.1 bcm in 2023.

In May 2024, Egypt’s domestic gas output hit a six-year low, down by about 25% from its 2021 peak.

Declining domestic production has led to a severe energy shortage in Egypt.

Last year, the North African country had to resort to load-shedding to keep its grid functioning amid a lack of gas supply and rising demand, while the deepening energy crisis strained Cairo’s budget as it grappled with a heavy subsidies bill.

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/13876190/main.jpg
Wil Crisp

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    QatarEnergy LNG awarded Saipem the contract for the EPCI package in February 2021. The package is the larger of the two NFPS phase one packages and has a value of $1.7bn.

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    QatarEnergy LNG awarded Saipem the second package of the NFPS phase one project, estimated to be worth $1bn, in March 2021.

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    The project is being developed by Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA).

    The project will add six intersections at Jumeirah Street, Al-Wasl Road, Sheikh Zayed Road, First Al-Khail Street, Al-Asayel Street and Al-Khail Road.

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    Saudi Arabia’s Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) has awarded an estimated $800m-$900m contract to build the next phase of the Riyadh Metro project, which is the Line 2 extension.

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    Riyadh Metro

    Riyadh Metro’s first phase features six lines with 84 stations.

    The RCRC completed the phased rollout of the Riyadh Metro network when it started operating the Orange Line on 5 January.

    In December last year, the RCRC started operating the Red Line and Green Line.

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    The Green Line, also known as Line 5, extends 13.3km from King Abdullah Road to the National Museum. With 12 stations, it serves several ministries and government agencies, including the Defence Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Commerce Ministry, as well as other areas.

    Earlier in December, the RCRC started operating the Blue Line (Line 1), Yellow Line (Line 4) and Purple Line (Line 6).

    The Blue Line connects Olaya Street to Batha; the Yellow Line runs along King Khalid International Airport Road; while the Purple Line connects Abdul Rahman Bin Awf Road with Al-Sheikh Hassan Bin Hussain Road.

    King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud inaugurated the Riyadh Metro on 27 November last year.

    The network spans 176km. Four of the stations have been designed by signature architects.

    The metro is part of the Riyadh Public Transport Project, which encompasses metro and bus systems. The project aims to relieve traffic congestion.

    The $23bn project was scheduled to open in 2018, but construction activity slowed due to disputes over prolongation and the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

    The RCRC awarded the main construction packages for the scheme on 28 July 2013.

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    The Fast consortium won lines 4, 5 and 6, reportedly valued at $7.82bn. The Bacs consortium was awarded lines 1 and 2 for $9.45bn, while Arriyadh New Mobility secured Line 3 for $5.21bn.

    US firm Bechtel leads the Bacs consortium. Italian firm Ansaldo STS is the leader of the Arriyadh New Mobility group, and Spanish firm FCC Construccion heads the Fast consortium.

    AtkinsRealis has delivered programme management and supervision services for the operations and maintenance of the Riyadh Metro scheme.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/14289337/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal