CAIRO: Egypt said on Saturday it had signed several multimillion-dollar energy investment accords including a $430-million deal for Texas-based Noble Energy to pump natural gas through the East Mediterranean Gas Company’s pipeline.
Under another agreement with Noble, which will also be financed by the US International Development Finance Corporation, the energy company will manufacture petroleum products in partnership with Egyptian company Dolphinus Holdings.
The cabinet detailed the plans at the end of an Africa investment forum held on the site of the country’s planned new administrative capital in the desert east of Cairo.
Amsterdam-based Lekela also announced the start of construction work on its West Bakr wind power plant, which will have a capacity of 250 megawatts and require a total investment of $350 million.
Lekela CEO Chris Antonopoulos said Siemens Gamesa will build the West Bakr plant in the Gulf of Suez, creating an expected 550 jobs, according to the cabinet statement.
Egypt signed an agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) worth $201 million to improve the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company’s electric grid, and the lender will also finance a new asphalt production unit for the Suez Oil Processing Company worth $50 million.
The EBRD signed further deals with Sarwa Capital Holding and state-owned Banque Misr to issue 500 million Egyptian pounds ($31.13 million) in securitization bonds for the government’s New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA).
NUCA, 51 percent owned by the military’s engineering authority and 49 percent by the housing ministry, is developing Egypt’s as yet-unnamed new capital.
The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation and the African Export–Import Bank also made available the first $100 million tranche of a $500 million loan to boost Egypt’s trade with other African and Muslim countries.
Egypt signs $430-million gas deal with Texas’ Noble Energy
Egypt signs $430-million gas deal with Texas’ Noble Energy
- US energy company will manufacture petroleum products in partnership with Egyptian company Dolphinus Holdings
European gas prices soar almost 50% as Iran conflict halts Qatar LNG output
- Analysts warn prolonged disruption could push prices higher
- Some shipments of oil, LNG through Strait of Hormuz suspended
- Benchmark Asian LNG price up almost 39 percent
LONDON: Benchmark Dutch and British wholesale gas prices soared by almost 50 percent on Monday, after major liquefied natural gas exporter Qatar Energy said it had halted production due to attacks in the Middle East.
Qatar, soon to cement its role as the world’s second largest LNG exporter after the US, plays a major role in balancing both Asian and European markets’ demand of LNG.
Most tanker owners, oil majors and trading houses have suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz, trade sources said, after Tehran warned ships against moving through the waterway.
Europe has increased imports of LNG over the past few years as it seeks to phase out Russian gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Around 20 percent of the world’s LNG transits through the Strait of Hormuz and a prolonged suspension or full closure would increase global competition for other sources of the gas, driving up prices internationally.
“Disruptions to LNG flows would reignite competition between Asia and Europe for available cargoes,” said Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president, gas and LNG research at Wood Mackenzie.
The Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub, seen as a benchmark price for Europe, was up €14.56 at €46.52 per megawatt hour, or around $15.92/mmBtu, by 12:55 p.m. GMT, ICE data showed.
Prices were already some 25 percent higher earlier in the day but extended gains after QatarEnergy’s production halt.
Benchmark Asian LNG prices jumped almost 39 percent on Monday morning with the S&P Global Energy Japan-Korea-Marker, widely used as an Asian LNG benchmark, at $15.068 per million British thermal units, Platts data showed.
“If LNG/gas markets start to price in an extended period of losses to Qatari LNG supply, TTF could potentially spike to 80-100 euros/MWh ($28-35/mmBtu),” Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, said. The British April contract was up 40.83 pence at 119.40 pence per therm, ICE data showed.
Europe is also relying on LNG imports to help fill its gas storage sites which have been depleted over the winter and are currently around 30 percent full, the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed. In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was down €1.10 at €69.17 a tonne
