Egypt Picks 7 Winners in Tender for 55 LNG Cargoes
Seven companies reportedly met with Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. (EGAS) to discuss an liquified natural gas (LNG) tender, including: Vitol, Noble Group, Trafigura, EDF Trading, PetroChina, Shell and Gas Natural, reports Reuters.
EGAS will buy 55 LNG cargoes from November this year to December 2016 through a tender it has agreed to with those seven different companies. Originally, only 45 LNG cargoes were to be delivered.
EGAS reportedly said in a statement: “Head of EGAS, Khaled Abdel Badie, said that bids from seven companies had been accepted out of a total of 12 for the shipping of 55 cargoes starting this November and through December 2016.”
The cargoes are expected to meet much of Egypt's near-term energy needs as the government tries to cope with an energy shortage. Falling output and rising demand have turned the country from an oil and gas exporter to net importer and it has emerged as a major new market for LNG.
Last month Egypt received its second LNG import terminal from Singapore-based Norwegian group BW Gas. The terminal has a capacity of 600 to 700 million cubic feet per day.