Egypt Struggles to Close LNG Tender
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Saturday, March 26, 2016
The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) has reportedly failed to secure two cargoes for delivery in April, says a report in Reuters.
The tender launched during last week was open to EGAS’ existing suppliers, however, delivery windows of April 1-7 for the first cargo and April 27-28 were difficult to arrange due to a short period notice.
Traders said the first delivery window was difficult to arrange given the short notice period.
For the late-April cargo, EGAS lined up commodity trader Trafigura as the supplier, but the deal ran into difficulties after EGAS tried to bring forward delivery to the middle of April, traders said.
Neither of the two delivery slots has been filled as of Thursday, and EGAS is still in talks with potential suppliers over the two cargoes.
Egypt became a major market for LNG shippers after the launch of two floating import terminals last year as the country looks to plug an energy shortage that has halted industrial production during summer months and caused rolling blackouts.