Egypt’s recent tender seeking 17 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for delivery during the summer has been fully awarded at a premium of $1.60-$1.90 to the benchmark Dutch TTF hub gas price, trading sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

The most populous Arab country plans to buy 15-20 cargoes of LNG to cover rising demand for power during the summer. It is seeking three more cargoes for delivery in August-September, the sources said.

The tender, which closed on Wednesday, marks Egypt’s largest LNG purchase in years and returns it to being a net importer of gas after dwindling supplies led to a wave of rolling blackouts and forced temporary shutdowns of chemical and fertilizer plants.

Egypt’s Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) had sought delivery of 17 LNG cargoes, including seven in July, six in August and four in September on an ex-ship (DES) basis, with deferred payments of up to six months.

The cargoes were awarded mainly to trading houses including Glencore GLEN.L and Vitol VITOLV.UL, the sources said.

Major players including BP BP.L and TotalEnergies TTEF.PA, as well as smaller players, including commodity trader Hartree, landed a few cargoes, the sources said, without providing further detail.

Natural gas supplies that help Egypt generate electricity have been dwindling as its growing population of 106 million and urban development have been pushing up power needs while high cooling demand during summer drives up consumption.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Marwa Rashad; Additional reporting by Ron Bousso on London and Emily Chow in Singapore; Editing by Nina Chestney and Richard Chang)