CAIRO — In light of the energy crisis in Egypt and the inefficiency of power plants due to a lack of natural gas since local production in Egypt decreased, the government and private companies in the sector have resorted to importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) to satisfy local demand.

Egypt was, until recently, a country that exported natural gas. Egyptian contracts limit importing natural gas from Arab countries, as mentioned in the agenda of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s visit to Algeria. The British BG Group’s operation in Egypt started negotiating with Israel to supply Egypt with 7 billion cubic meters (247 billion cubic feet) of LNG annually for a period of 15 years.

The current gas production in Egypt is 0.13 billion cubic meters (4.8 billion cubic feet) daily with an estimated consumption of 6 billion cubic feet a day, according to the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS).

An Egyptian government source who works in the petroleum industry told Al-Monitor, “There is a huge crisis in the natural gas sector in Egypt, and we cannot stop foreign companies operating in Egypt from importing gas from Israel.”