Egyptian LNG to return to full operation - PETROLEUM ECONOMIST

Houston, 20 September 2019

Peter Ramsay

The 7.2mn t/yr Egyptian LNG (ELNG) facility will return to 100pc of nameplate capacity next month, the firm’s senior optimisation manager Tamer Abdelsalam told the Gastech conference in Houston. It is currently operating at 90pc capacity.

Full output is a far cry from the dark days of mid-2013 to mid-2019, when the volume of feed gas reaching the plant hovered at 13-15pc of design capacity. During that period, ELNG produced just 31mn m³ of LNG and exported 21 cargoes, bring in only $354mn in revenues, says Abdelsalam.

The return of ELNG, located at Idku, to full capacity may not, though, be followed swiftly by a full restart of Egypt’s other export terminal at Damietta. “That is for the government,” says Adelsalam. “They are taking the lead in negotiations around Damietta.”