Eni has signed a series of agreements with the Arab Republic of Egypt (ARE), the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and the Spanish company Naturgy, which will pave the way for the restart of the Damietta liquefaction plant in Egypt by the first quarter of 2021.
The signed agreement also mentions the amicable settlement of the pending disputes of Union Fenosa Gas and SEGAS with EGAS and ARE and the subsequent corporate restructuring of Union Fenosa Gas itself, whose assets will be shared between the partners Eni and Naturgy.
The liquefaction plant’s owner is SEGAS, which is 40% owned by Eni through Union Fenosa Gas (50% Eni and 50% Naturgy). Eni stated that the plant has a capacity of 7.56 billion cubic meters per year, but has been idle since November 2012.
The agreement comes at an important moment, Eni said in a statement, thanks to the fast time to market of Eni’s natural gas discoveries, especially the ones in the Zohr and Nooros fields. With these discoveries, Egypt has regained its full capacity to meet domestic gas demand and can allocate surplus production for export through its LNG plants.
According to Eni, the new agreements, which are in line with the ones finalised earlier this year have taken into account the evolution of the energy scenario in the region. This will also reinforce Eni’s strategic objectives in terms of growth of its LPG portfolio in Egypt, where the company is the main gas producer, and are of primary importance for all parties involved to resolve all pending disputes.
Eni further added that this operation, subject to the authorisation, allows the company to strengthen its presence in the Eastern Mediterranean, a key region for the supply of natural gas – an important resource for the energy transition.