A senior official at the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company Egas said the company is negotiating with the Gazprom company to buy 13 Russian shipments of liquefied gas equal to 30 billion cubic feet.
The official added that a meeting was held last week between Egyptian officials and Gazprom representatives in London to discuss the deal.
These shipments will be allocated to Gas France and British Gas (BG) companies, within the framework of an exchange agreement finalized with both companies in last March, the official noted.
According to the agreement, Egypt received 18 shipments from the Gas France and British Gas (BG) companies and must pay for the shipments in gas rather than money.
Five shipments have been returned to both companies through shipments Egypt received from Qatar last June, the official added.
Egypt suffers from a shortage of one billion cubic feet of gas per day, after domestic consumption of natural gas reached approximately 6.7 billion cubic feet.
Egypt produces about 5.4 billion cubic feet of gas per day, 85 percent of which is pumped into the domestic market, while 800 million cubic feet are turned to the liquefaction plant Edco in Damietta per day, said the official.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
