São Paulo – Egypt’s natural gas exports were down 81.4% year-on-year in September, according to monthly results released by the country’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) this Thursday.
According to an IDSC report, natural gas exports fetched US$ 18.1 million in September. In September last year, Egypt exported US$ 97.1 million worth of natural gas.
According to IDSC data released by the Al Ahram newspaper, exports dropped as a result of a 12.2% year-on-year decline in gas output, from 3.4 million tonnes in September 2013 to 3.01 million tonnes in September this year, coupled with an increase in domestic consumption.
Power generation accounted for 68.7% of natural gas consumption in the country in September this year, as against 59.6% in the comparable month in 2013.
Apart from rising consumption, Egypt is not awarding new concessions for exploration of new areas, and this affects production. From 2010 to 2013, no concessions were awarded and the number of blocks being explored dropped from 53, four years ago, to 27 in 2013. Gas exploration declined due to mounting debt from 2011 onwards, stemming from the domestic scenario that followed the ousting of former president Hosni Mubarak.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
