Egypt Activates Emergency Gas Plan Amid Total Halt in Israeli Imports
Following the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran, Egypt suspends industrial gas supply, turns to fuel oil and diesel for power, and braces for potential summer electricity shortages.
Watan-Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum announced the activation of an emergency plan for natural gas supply priorities after Israeli gas imports completely stopped following the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran.
The plan includes cutting gas supply to certain industrial sectors, increasing fuel oil consumption at power plants to the maximum available, and coordinating the use of diesel in some facilities instead of natural gas.
Egypt now faces the threat of electricity load shedding, a scenario the country endured during previous summers when Israeli gas imports declined.
Since 2020, Egypt has relied heavily on Israeli gas imports, receiving between 850 million to 1 billion cubic feet per day, accounting for about half of its imported gas needs.
The Leviathan and Karish gas fields, two of Israel’s largest, were shut down on Friday morning.
Previously, Egypt’s gas crisis had mainly involved reduced summer imports. Now, the war has caused a complete halt in Israeli gas flows.
It was already expected that Israeli gas supplies to Egypt would drop to 800–850 million cubic feet per day in July and August, down from 1 billion cubic feet daily, due to increased Israeli domestic demand.
