By: OrePulse

Egypt has contracted about 10 million tons of liquefied natural gas for 2027 and may need as much as 12 million tons during the year, according to sources familiar with the country's gas-import planning. The outlook comes as Egypt's quarterly LNG imports hit a record in the third quarter of 2026.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has begun preparing early for next year's cargo needs as domestic gas consumption rises, the sources said. Consumption typically peaks during the summer season, which runs from May to mid-September, when power plants draw the most gas to meet air-conditioning and cooling demand. Egypt has leaned increasingly on imported LNG cargoes to supply power stations and industry as output from its domestic gas fields has declined, requiring the ministry to secure additional seaborne volumes well ahead of each peak-demand season.

Imports climbed to a record 4.26 million tons in the third quarter of 2026, an increase of 960,000 tons that the Energy Research Unit described as 29% year-on-year growth, according to the unit's regular report tracking Arab and global LNG markets. The unit compared the quarter's total with 3.30 million tons imported in the same period of 2024.

The quarterly total also surpassed Egypt's previous import record, set in the second quarter of 2026 at about 3.34 million tons, marking a 27.5% increase quarter-on-quarter, the Energy Research Unit said.

Monthly volumes fluctuated within the quarter. July imports reached a record 1.67 million tons, up 69% from about 990,000 tons in July 2025. Imports then dropped to 1.41 million tons in August, after a fire disrupted a floating storage and regasification unit—a facility used to convert imported LNG back into gas for Egypt's pipeline network—at Damietta; even so, the month still ranked as the second-highest on record. Imports eased further to 1.17 million tons in September, the Energy Research Unit said.

The United States remained Egypt's largest LNG supplier by far, providing 3.87 million tons in the third quarter, about 91% of the total, up from 3.01 million tons in the same period of 2025, a rise of 29%. Mauritania was the second-largest source, supplying about 150,000 tons after first appearing as an exporter to Egypt in the fourth quarter of 2025. Trinidad and Tobago supplied about 140,000 tons, roughly unchanged from the third quarter of 2025, while Norway delivered about 70,000 tons in a single cargo shipped in July. Mexico supplied 40,000 tons, marking its first appearance as a source of LNG for Egypt, the Energy Research Unit said.

For the first nine months of 2026, Egypt's LNG imports totaled 10.52 million tons, up about 85% from 5.70 million tons in the same period of 2024, according to the Energy Research Unit.

Ahmed Shawky, director of the Energy Research Unit, attributed the rise in imports to a widening gap between Egypt's domestic gas production and its consumption. He also pointed to disruptions affecting gas piped from Israel, which he linked to effects of the war, as well as to maintenance carried out at gas fields in the late summer. Taken together, Shawky said, those factors combined to push cargo imports to the record level recorded in the third quarter.

The roughly 10 million tons already contracted for 2027, and the potential need for up to 12 million tons cited by the sources, compare with the 10.52 million tons Egypt imported in the first nine months of 2026 alone. The sources did not say how the additional 2027 cargo volumes would be broken down by supplier.