LPG in Egypt

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), also known as butane or botagas, is a key household fuel in Egypt. According to the UN Energy Statistics Yearbook, domestic consumption of LPG stood at 4.4 million tons in 2009, while production amounted to 1.8 million tons with another 2.4 million tons imported in the same year. As with other fuels, LPG has been heavily subsidized by the Egyptian government with official end-user prices for LPG bottles remaining steady. Nevertheless, due to frequent shortages prices for consumers could vary widely.

In October 2012 the Ministry of Petroleum started a pilot program in which it sold lower-cost LPG canisters only to those carrying government ration cards or to people the government otherwise determined were in need. This attempt by the government to get energy subsidies under control, which amount to an estimated 20 percent of total government expenditure, through restricting low-cost LPG has commenced in four governorates including Giza, in which nearly half the population of greater Cairo resides.

In 2008, the World Bank approved a loan of US$75 million to support a national program of switching consumption of LPG to natural gas. At the end of 2012, the World Bank reported it had successfully connected more than 330,000 new households to the gas grid.

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