The 'Energy Mix' in Egypt

Egyptian energy consumption depends heavily on oil and gas -- some 95 to 97 percent of Egypt's total energy consumption came through oil and gas in 2009. Egypt's total energy consumption in the same year was 3.4 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu).

As of 2011, dry natural gas was the main source of energy in Egypt. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), natural gas accounted for 49.7 percent of Egypt's total energy consumption in 2009, followed by petroleum at 45 percent. The use of natural gas has nearly doubled in the last decade, while oil consumption has risen by about one third, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), due to economic growth, rising private and commercial vehicle sales and population growth. In 2011, the EIA estimated that natural gas consumption amounted to 1.6 trillion cubic feet (tcf) and petroleum was consumed at a rate of approximately 815,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Traditionally Egypt has been a net exporter of energy. But in the late 1990s Egypt's oil production peaked and oil was increasingly used to meet local demand. This trend was reversed again with the discovery and exploitation of large reserves of natural gas, which enabled Egypt to again become a net energy exporter and, in particular, a significant supplier of natural gas to neighboring countries such as Jordan by the mid 2000s. Despite plans to increase exports, Oil Minister Osama Kamal announced in November 2012 that the country would start importing gas by May 2013 due to rapidly increasing local demand, turning Egypt from a gas-exporting country to one that is gas-importing.

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