Egypt sets out ambitions to become 'regional energy hub'

Unlocking gas deposits in Eastern Mediterranean will allow country to supply its neighbours, says minister Karim Badawi

Egypt is planning to unlock Mediterranean gas reserves to meet the “energy needs” of the whole region, the country’s energy minister has told The National.

Karim Badawi also spoke about forming a broader collaboration with other countries “to maximise the value of Egypt as a regional hub” for energy supply.

Cairo and Nicosia signed an agreement in February that enables the export of gas from Cyprus's offshore fields to Egypt for liquefaction and subsequent export to Europe. Both countries are aiming to make the Eastern Mediterranean a larger energy hub.

Speaking at the Future of Energy Security conference in London, Mr Badawi stated that the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources that he leads would “unlock the whole subsurface potential and provide the energy needs not only of Egypt but for the region”.

Egypt's energy minister Karim Badawi, speaking at the conference in London, has a plan to supply gas across the region. EPA

There would also be “regional collaboration to maximise the value of Egypt as a regional hub,” he added.

Under the deal with Cyprus, reserves from the island's Cronos field will be exported to Egypt, where existing infrastructure is in place to process and ship liquefied natural gas on to European markets.

Mr Badawi said his country wanted to “leverage the infrastructure” to provide the energy needs “for the common benefit not only of the people of Egypt, but for Europe and the rest of the world”.

The Eastern Mediterranean has yielded some major gas discoveries in recent years, and the disruption in supplies from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has focused Europe's attention on securing supplies elsewhere.

The Cronos deal, which is estimated to be for more than 4.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, also helps Egypt combat declining domestic gas production.

Italian energy company Eni, along with French energy giant TotalEnergies, agreed to send the gas extracted from the Cronos Block 6 site and send it for processing at Egypt's Zohr facility before it is liquefied at the Nile Delta’s Damietta plant.

Progress on another promising gasfield was announced earlier this year. The Aphrodite field was discovered in 2011 and is believed to contain 4.4 trillion cubic feet (125 billion cubic metres) of natural gas. It lies west of Israel's Leviathan gasfield in the eastern Mediterranean.

Chevron Cyprus holds a 35 per cent operator interest in the Aphrodite field. Shell's BG Cyprus Limited holds 35 per cent and the Israeli energy giant NewMed holds the remaining 30 per cent stake.

Egypt’s Zohr facilities are now being used to process gas extracted from the Cronos Block 6 site in Cyprus. Reuters

Meanwhile, Egypt is also attempting to transition away from fossil fuels. It is aiming to “provide the right energy mix” and have 42 per cent of power coming from renewables by 2030, Mr Badawi said.

He also reflected on the new challenges facing renewable energy, highlighted by IEA boss Dr Fatih Birol on the energy security conference’s opening day on Thursday. Among them, he said, are “risks” posed by the concentration of critical minerals in a few countries.

“Mining for critical minerals is very important in the energy transition and also, obviously, for deployment of renewable energies and the future transition technologies,” Mr Badawi said.

He added that the conference, held in Lancaster House, London, was “very important because energy is at the forefront of driving economies, in any part of this world”.