Accompanied by the managing director of EGAS, Yassin Mohamed, Badawi met with officials from the German government to discuss the contractual terms for the lease of the FSRU, according to a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources on Wednesday.
The two sides had started negotiations and discussed technical issues related to the lease of the FSRU at the end of February during meetings held in Cairo between EGAS officials and the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the statement said.
The statement did not say whether the two countries have now signed the final charter agreement or whether negotiations will continue.
The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources revealed plans to sub-charter the FSRU from the German government in a statement earlier this month after Badawi met with German government officials at CERAWeek in Houston.
During that meeting, the two countries agreed to arrange a visit by a delegation of Egyptian specialists to Germany by the end of this month to finalize the contractual terms for the unit’s charter.
Private firm Deutsche ReGas recently announced that it had terminated the charter contract for the FSRU Energos Power, one of the two FSRUs operating at the Mukran LNG import terminal, with the German government.
Energos Infrastructure, a part of US asset manager Apollo, owns this FSRU.
The charter deal with the German government, which started in 2023, is for ten years.
According to its AIS data, the FSRU was located offshore Denmark’s Skagen on Thursday.
Egypt LNG imports
Egypt shifted from being an LNG exporter to an importer early last year due to declining domestic gas production and rising demand for cooling amid multiple heatwaves.
To support its growing need for natural gas, Egypt currently hosts the 170,000-cbm Hoegh Galleon FSRU at the Sumed port in Ain Sokhna, with a second unit, the 160,000-cbm Energos Eskimo, set to arrive in June.
In December 2024, Egypt’s EGAS signed a deal with US LNG player New Fortress Energy to charter a second FSRU.
This deal is for Energos Eskimo, owned by Energos Infrastructure.
EGAS said the charter of the second FSRU will help secure the growing domestic demand for natural gas, especially during peak summer periods, and aligns with directives to ensure stable electricity supplies from natural gas.
Egypt currently imports LNG via Hoegh Evi’s Hoegh Galleon, which is located in Ain Sokhna.
