Today, the Gazprom Headquarters has hosted a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Rachid Mohamed Rachid, Minister of Foreign Trade and Industry of Egypt.

The parties discussed the prospects for cooperation in the gas sector, addressing in particular Gazprom’s potential involvement in developing Egypt’s oil & gas infrastructure as well as opportunities for cooperation between Gazprom and EGAS (Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company).

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Egypt’s proven gas reserves currently make up 1.89 tcm. The length of national gas pipelines is 4.7 thousand km.

In 2005 domestic gas production was at 41 bcm, of which 32.97 and 8.03 bcm was used by home consumers and exported, respectively.

At the moment Egyptian gas is exported both as pipeline gas and LNG. Egypt is the world’s fifth largest LNG exporter.

Egypt’s government is the general regulator of the energy sector via the state run Organization for Energy Planning (OEP), Oil Ministry, and Energy Ministry. Several areas of the energy sector are governed by state owned EGPC (Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation) and EGAS (Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company).

In March 2005, Gazprom and EGAS signed a Memorandum of understanding, which stipulates cooperation in gas exports, manufacture of oil & gas equipment and drilling units as well as associated services. Furthermore, Gazprom is studying the possibility of getting involved in oil & gas exploration and production in Egypt, and pipeline construction projects needed for domestic and export purposes.

In 2005 the government set gas export restrictions imposing a 25 per cent ceiling on export of the country’s overall reserves. This move could significantly limit the country’s export potential, especially given the further growth of the domestic gas market. The country’s oil and refining product requirements are also increasing against the background of decreasing production and reserve sufficiency.