The Petroleum Ministry is evaluating proposals to take equity positions in overseas degasification terminals, according to Petroleum & Mineral Resources Minister Sameh Fahmy.

'We are studying proposals [to invest] in degasification units, we have offers,' Fahmy said at the Egypt: A Commitment to Reform conference organised by Euromoney Conferences in London on 14 March.

It is understood that investments are being considered in countries from which the partners in Egypt's two liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants on the Mediterranean originate. 'We are talking to our equity partners, including those in Spain and Italy,' Sherif Ismail, chairman of Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), told MEED on the sidelines of the conference. 'They also want us to be involved in the receiving side.'

The UK's BG International, Petronas of Malaysia and Gaz de France are the foreign partners in Egyptian LNG (ELNG), which operates two LNG trains with capacity of 3.6 million tonnes a year each at Idku. Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and EGAS are the local partners.

Spain's Union Fenosa and Italy's Eni together with EGPC and EGAS are partners in Spanish Egyptian Gas Company (SEGAS), which operates a single 5 million-t/y LNG train at Damietta.

Egypt is expected to earn $2,200 million from LNG exports this year and $3,300 million in the next financial year, starting on 1 April.