Three contracts to liquefy natural gas

The Egyptian government has signed three contracts with international companies specialized in the fields of producing and transporting natural gas, Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi said yesterday.

"The three projects involve investments of over $ 3.2 billion and projects to liquefy 13.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually for export operations due to begin in 2004," he said.

"The first contract was signed with a Spanish company which will liquefy and store natural gas," Fahmi said. The company will transport 4.5 billion cubic metres of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Spain annually. Production and export are scheduled to begin in 30 months.

"The second contract was signed with British and Italian companies to carry out a LNG project with $ 1 billion capital, with the state oil sector contributing nearly quarter of this amount. The project will produce 4.5 billion cubic metres of LNG annually and begin export in 2005," Fahmi said.

The third project was signed with British and Italian companies to establish an LNG factory at Damietta with a 4.5 billion cubic metres annual capacity. The $ 1.2 billion project will begin operation in 2005.

Fahmi said Egypt would begin exporting natural gas to Jordan through a pipeline running from El-Arish to El-Aqaba in 2002. The pipeline is the first stage in a multi-billion project to link gas pipelines to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey.