Egyptian Natural Gas Imports Halted on Sunday

Egyptian natural gas imports have halted on Sunday, the cabinet said, cited by Bloomberg, from 800mcf/d previously, leading to power cuts in the country.

• The halt in the gas imports appears linked a decision earlier this month by Israeli authorities to shut down the offshore Tamar gas field amid concerns it could be impacted by the fighting between its military and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
• Egypt is now facing power cuts due to the halt of natural gas imports and higher demand due to above seasonal norm temperatures.
• Markets have been closely watching the restart of Egypt’s LNG exports, that were scheduled to resume this month and are typically send to Europe throughout the winter. However, no LNG cargo has been shipped from Egypt since the start of the conflict in Israel, that previously led to a 20% decline in natural gas pipeline flows from Israel to Egypt.