Egypt expected to complete gas project next year
24 July 2025
The project to develop a fourth production train at Egypt’s Western Desert gas complex in Amriya is now scheduled to come online next year, amid concerns about whether the facility will have access to required volumes of natural gas, according to sources.
State-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Company (Gasco) is developing the facility, known as Train D, which has been dogged by problems for years.
In February 2023, the project was on track to be completed by the start of 2024, but it has since suffered delays due to a range of issues, including procurement problems.
Now the project is progressing slowly due to uncertainty about whether feedstock will be available when it eventually comes online.
One source said: “The project is now progressing very slowly because there is little point in bringing it online if there is no gas available for it to process.”
Egypt is struggling to meet domestic demand for natural gas, and earlier this year it had to halt production at several industrial facilities due to gas shortages.
Facilities that were hit by the disruptions included Egyptian fertiliser producers.
The main contracts for the fourth production train at Egypt’s Western Desert gas complex, worth a total of $295m, were awarded to Egypt-based Enppi and Petrojet in February 2020.
In September 2023, Egypt’s cabinet approved granting a “golden licence” to Gasco for the project, which would increase the capacity of the Western Desert gas complex via a fourth production line with a design capacity of 600 million cubic feet a day (cf/d).
The golden licence is awarded to projects identified by the Egyptian state as strategic and gives the project certain privileges. It is not widely understood exactly how the licence will benefit the project.
The Gasco project is expected to provide employment opportunities for some 2,500 workers.
It spans about 33 acres in Amriya’s Nahda Industrial Zone.
The project aims to increase the production of natural gas derivatives, meet the raw material needs of petrochemical factories, and ensure a steady supply of liquefied petroleum gas to support local market demands.
The fourth train will boost the capacity of the Western Desert gas complex from 950 million cf/d to 1,550 million cf/d.
The scope of the project includes:
- Installation of an evaporator
- Installation of air-cooled condensers
- Installation of a safety and security system
- Excavation work
- Installation of associated facilities
In June 2021, Gasco secured a $200m syndicated loan from bankers to expand the Western Desert gas complex in Amriya.
The lenders included Banque Misr, Banque du Caire, CIB, QNB, Al-Ahli, Arab African International Bank and Bank Audi.
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