By: OrePulse

Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty urged Khalifa Abdulsadek, Libya's acting oil and gas minister, to speed up work on a planned cross-border natural gas pipeline between the two countries, during talks in Tripoli on November 7.

The discussions were the latest sign of expanding energy cooperation between Cairo and Tripoli, as Egypt looks to diversify its sources of natural gas and reduce its reliance on costlier imported LNG.

Abdelatty called for faster progress on a series of joint energy projects, according to a statement from Egypt's foreign ministry. Those included construction and connection of the Egypt-Libya gas pipeline, along with expanded cooperation on petroleum products between the two countries.

The pipeline is intended to allow Libyan gas to flow into Egypt, giving Cairo an additional source of supply alongside its own production and imported liquefied natural gas.

Abdelatty also raised three related projects. Under one proposal, Libyan crude oil would be refined in Egypt and then re-exported, rather than being processed only inside Libya. A second calls for the rehabilitation of refineries inside Libya, though the statement did not specify which facilities would be covered. A third involves linking the two countries' electricity grids. No timeline was given for any of the three.

Abdelatty said no other country on the eastern and southern shores of the Mediterranean has comparable facilities for turning natural gas into liquid form for export, pointing to Egypt's existing plants as a possible outlet for Libyan gas production.

Abdulsadek, for his part, said Tripoli would continue work on the joint projects already underway. He added that he expects to travel to Cairo to hold follow-up discussions with Egypt's petroleum and electricity ministries. No date has been set for that visit.

The foreign ministry's statement did not include cost estimates or a construction timeline for the pipeline itself.

The meeting took place after Egypt reopened its embassy in Tripoli, ending a closure that had lasted since 2012.

The push for faster cooperation comes as Egypt faces higher costs for imported liquefied natural gas, with global LNG prices elevated since fighting tied to the war in Iran disrupted regional energy markets earlier this year. Expanding pipeline links with Libya would give Egypt an alternative source of gas supply as it manages that cost pressure.

In a separate sign of that diversification effort, Egypt is also advancing a gas pipeline link with Cyprus. State contractor Petrojet has been appointed main contractor for a 57-kilometer pipeline, called Cronos, that would carry gas from Cyprus to the Egyptian city of Damietta. The onshore portion of that contract is valued at about 170 million dollars.

Egypt's foreign ministry and Libya's oil and gas ministry were the two bodies involved in the November 7 talks; no other officials were named in the statement.