All posts tagged egypt

Suez Canal Drops Transit Fees Further More

Section: MARITIME ISSUES, MARITIME SERVICES · December 23, 2020 · No comments |

As the Egyptian government tries to support revenues, with the pandemic hammering trade, shippers of Liquified Petroleum Gas on the Suez Canal will continue to pay lower transit fees until June 2021.

Carriers traveling between southeast Asia and the United States have gotten breaks ranging between 24% and 75% since April, depending on their route.

The measures were introduced by the Suez Canal Authority in response to a slowdown in global trade caused by the pandemic.

The SCA has also reduced transit fees for large oil tankers traveling between northern Europe and southeast Asia by 48%.

“The authority granted discounts to shipping lines as marketing tools to attract ships that use other alternative routes”, reports Al Mal, the authoritative Egyptian newspaper. These routes are chiefly the Cape of Good Hope, and the fees are “based on a study of the costs of operating a ship’s transit voyage in the Suez Canal, compared to other alternative channels, especially since crossing these routes takes a long time without payment of Transit fees, compared with the Suez Canal “, Al Mal reports.

Africa’s renewable energy capacity is set for consecutive years of growth, exceeding 50,000MW (50 GW) in 2025

Section: ENERGY TRANSITION · November 24, 2020 · No comments |

Africa’s installed capacity of renewable energy, which stood at 12,600MW (12.6GW) in 2019, is set for consecutive years of growth, a Rystad Energy analysis shows. The continent’s capacity is forecast to reach 16,800MW (16.8 GW) in 2020, add another 5,500MW (5.5 GW) in 2021, and further climb to 51.2 GW in 2025, led by growth in solar and wind projects in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Ethiopia.

At present, South Africa leads the continent in terms of installed renewable energy capacity with 3.5 GW of wind, 2.4 GW of utility solar, and a solar-dominant 1 GW pipeline of projects in development. Egypt and Morocco are in second and third place in terms of solar capacity with 1.6 GW and 0.8 GW, respectively.

Nearly 40 out of 50 African countries have installed – or plan to install – wind or solar projects. And although the learning curve may be steep for first-time market entrants with sizable development pipelines, inexperienced players will be able to leverage the lessons learned in Egypt, South Africa and Morocco and implement this knowledge into development plans.

Algeria will see the most renewable growth in Africa towards 2025, increasing capacity from just 500 megawatt (MW) in 2020 to almost 2.9 GW in 2025. The increase will come primarily from one mega-project, the 4 GW Tafouk 1 Mega Solar Project, which will be developed in five phases of 800 MW capacity each, to be tendered between 2020 and 2024. Rystad Energy expects three of the tendered projects with 2.4 GW of capacity will be commissioned by 2025.

Tunisia will also see formidable growth, skyrocketing from 350 MW of renewable capacity in 2020 to 4.5 GW in 2025. The additions will come from larger solar plants such as the 2 GW TuNur Mega Project, which is currently in the early stages of development and is expected to come on line by 2025.

Learn more in Rystad Energy’s RenewableCube.

In terms of speed, Egypt has been one of the quickest African nations to install solar and wind since 2017, and currently has approximately 3 GW of installed capacity. The country has a massive 9.2 GW development pipeline – which mostly consists of wind projects – putting Egypt on track to overtake South Africa in 2025 and become the green powerhouse of Africa.

Growth will come from large projects such as the 2 GW Gulf of Suez Red Sea Wind Project, which will be located in the governorate of the Red Sea. Of the capacity to be installed, 500 MW will be developed by German giant Siemens Gamesa and 1,500 MW remains to be awarded. Four out of the top 10 projects to be developed in Africa in the next five years will be in Egypt, underscoring the Egyptian government’s commitment to its renewable goals.

Morocco follows Egypt in terms of the quick pace of installations with 2.5 GW of installed capacity, dominated by 1.7 GW of wind power. Rystad Energy expects solar will drive the growth there, with a handful of large projects already in the works such as the 1 GW Noor Midelt Hybrid (CSP + Solar PV), the 400 MW Noor PV II, and the 120 MW Noor Tafilalet.

Ethiopia’s capacity numbers will also take a huge leap: The county currently has only 11 MW of installed solar capacity and close to 450 MW of installed wind, but is expected to have 3 GW of renewable capacity on line by 2025. The Tigray Hybrid Project will drive this increase and is expected to contribute at least 500 MW of solar capacity by 2025, assuming a resolution to the current ongoing conflict by then

The cost of renewables is at an all-time low now, and as larger markets such as China, India and Europe are on track to reach installation targets, wind and solar components will become ever cheaper and more easily accessed, creating a conducive environment for investment also in Africa.

“Development on the continent has historically been slow due to political instability, lagging policy and infrastructure, and poor procurement. However, as electricity demand increases, many African nations are turning to renewable solutions to meet energy targets, with solar overtaking wind in the next five years as the renewable technology of choice,“ says Gaurav Metkar, analyst at Rystad Energy.

For more analysis, insights and reports, clients and non-clients can apply for access to Rystad Energy’s Free Solutions and get a taste of our data and analytics universe.

New Oil Route Planned to Bypass the Suez Canal

Section: In the news · October 21, 2020 · No comments |

Israel’s state-owned Europe Asia Pipeline Company (EAPC) has inked an agreement with UAE-based Med-Red Land Bridge to move crude oil from the Arabian Gulf to Europe through a land route

Currently crude oil shipments to Europe from the Gulf States go through the Suez Canal, which is supervised by Egypt.

The binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the two parties, calls for using the existing Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, owned by EAPC, to connect the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.

EAPC says it could increase the quantity of shipped oil by “tens of millions of tons per year,” according to newswires.

Oil could start flowing through this route at the start of 2021.

EAPC and Med-Red — a consortium of Emirati and Israeli companies say that the “land bridge” to ship oil between countries in the region will save time and fuel compared with the Suez Canal.

Israeli economic magazine, Globes said: “There will be options to bring the oil by tanker to Eilat port or to build a pipeline from the UAE across Saudi Arabia to Israel”, adding that Med-Red is already in “advanced negotiations with major players in the West and in the East for long-term service agreements,” according to EAPC’s statement.

The UAE and Israel began normalizing relations only two months ago, in a truce brokered by the US’ Trump administration.

The proposed alternative route to the Suez Canal will certainly shave significant revenue from the waterway’s pocket.

Nearly 66% of oil sent from the GCC to western countries is shipped through the Suez Canal or the Sumed pipeline linking Alexandria to the Red Sea.

Technip Gets the $2.5Billion Contract for Egypt’s Assiut Refinery

Section: In the news · July 9, 2020 · No comments |

TechnipFMC has now signed the much-anticipated major Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract with Egypt’s state owned Assiut National Oil Processing Company (ANOPC) for the construction of a new Hydrocracking Complex for the Assiut refinery.

The $2.5Billion hydrocracker will upgrade residual oil from the 90,000BOPD Assiut refinery, in the town of Assuit, in Upper (southern) Egypt.

The work also involves Egyptian state-owned contractor ENPPI.

“This EPC contract covers new process units such as a Vacuum Distillation Unit, a Diesel Hydrocracking Unit, a Delayed Coker Unit, a Distillate Hydrotreating Unit as well as a Hydrogen Production Facility Unit using TechnipFMC’s steam reforming proprietary technology. The project also includes other process units, interconnecting, offsites and utilities.

The complex will transform lower-value petroleum products from Assiut Oil Refining Company’s (ASORC) nearby refinery into approximately 2.8Million tons per year of cleaner products, such as Euro 5 diesel.

Domestic Demand Pushes Egypt To Become Gas Importer

Section: Gas Monetization · November 22, 2012 · No comments |

Egypt has a problem that’s rare among high volume African gas producers. It has created so much incentive for domestic gas use that, affected by its own success, it has headed on a slippery road to natural gas import.

In spite of holding close to 80Trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, the fourth largest store on the continent, Egypt, by most recent accounts, is so desperate for gas supplies that it already sees itself as a gas importer.

Just yesterday(November 22, 2012), Cairo based Citadel Capital, said it had signed an agreement with Qatari investors to import liquefied natural gas into North Africa’s largest economy.

The agreement is happening two weeks after the Egyptian government itself declared that it would allow liquefied natural gas imports after gas shortages contributed to countrywide power cuts.

On a government to government level, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has concluded a deal with Algeria to import approximately 500 million cubic feet of gas daily from Algeria, starting in May 2013.

The details of these transactions are still quite sketchy. For one, the Citadel statement didn’t indicate any regasification plans. And with regards to the import from Algeria, it wasn’t immediately clear whether this needed a pipeline construction or if there was already a transport route.

Egypt approached Algeria for import to meet its own export contractual agreements amidst a rise in domestic demand. Gas to Power, Industrial consumption, motor vehicles using gas as well as household usage were responsible for consumption of1.65 Trillion standard cubic feet of gas around the country in 2010/2011 year, according to EGAS, the state gas company. It is expected to rise. Currently, Egypt has three liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants and a pipeline to export gas. The LNG Plants include Segas LNG Train 1 in Damietta and Egypt LNG trains 1 and 2 in Idku. Their combined export capacity is close to 600Bcf a year. But in 2010, as domestic demand increased, LNG exports fell to about 354bcf, which was down by 30% from almost 500bcf in 2009. The government has been using some of the gas destined for exportation to the local market to bridge the energy deficit, which resulted in rolling blackouts in second and third quarters of 2012.

Egyptian Crisis Turns Dana Gas Into A Debt Defaulter

Section: In the news · November 6, 2012 · No comments |

Dana Gas has fingered the Egyptian revolution for its cash flow issues, lamenting that the government’s inability to pay for gas purchases has cast the company in an image of a chronic debtor. The UAE based company attributes its recent default, on a $1Billion Islamic Shari’a-compliant Sukuk bond, to “ receivables” from the government, becoming “much more complicated as well as much more severe”.

The bond’s maturity date came and passed on 31 October 2012. $920 million was due after Dana Gas repurchased $80 million of the bond issue in 2008. The company also failed to pay $18.75 million of accrued profit from the Sukuk-holders ownership stake due on 30 October 2012.

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