Written by: Fatma Younes
Egypt's natural gas sector witnessed increasing pressure during the first nine months of the 2025-2026 fiscal year, as natural gas imports recorded a significant jump of 128.8%. This rise coincides with a decline in domestic production by 8.6% and an increase in demand by 6.4%, which led to a widening gap between production and consumption, reaching 46.7%.
Securing Gas Supplies and Infrastructure
To meet the needs of the local market, the state expanded to strengthen infrastructure for receiving and regasifying imported gas. These measures included operating three ships to receive gas in the Ain Sokhna area, in addition to a fourth ship in Damietta, with a total capacity reaching about 2.7 billion cubic feet per day.
Petroleum Sector Challenges and Global Markets
Pressures extended to the petroleum sector, where the value of petroleum imports increased by 3.4% to reach $9.4 billion during the same period, while petroleum exports declined by 12.3%. Global price volatility added to these burdens, especially after the price of Brent crude exceeded the $100 per barrel barrier in March 2026, and the European gas price rose to $17.99 per million British thermal units.
Investment, Research, and Exploration Incentives
In the context of facing current challenges, the state approved new incentives to encourage investment in research and exploration activities, including allowing the export of a specific percentage of new natural gas production and raising the price of the foreign partners' share. Furthermore, overdue payments to foreign companies operating in the sector were fully settled in June 2026, after reaching $6.1 billion in June 2024.
Petrochemical Sector Performance
Regarding petrochemicals, imports recorded a decline of 0.3%, while exports fell by 1% during the first nine months of the 2025-2026 fiscal year, as a result of slowing global demand and the redirection of a portion of production to cover local market needs, which led to an increase in the sector's trade balance deficit by 3.7%.
