LNG Tanker Diverts From Egypt Terminal As Gasoline Flows

A tanker looking for to replenish liquefied pure fuel (LNG) at a terminal in Egypt left empty and diverted to a different port, after an Israeli pipeline supplying fuel was halted as a result of Israel-Hamas battle, analysts mentioned on Thursday.

The Seapeak Catalunya tanker has modified course from Egypt’s Idku LNG plant and is now heading to Algeria’s Arzew LNG facility as a substitute, LSEG analyst Olumide Ajayi mentioned, citing delivery knowledge.

Chevron has shut down the Israeli Tamar fuel subject amid the army battle within the nation and suspended exports via the subsea EMG pipeline, which runs from Ashkelon in southern Israel to Egypt.

Egypt depends on Israeli fuel imports to fulfill a few of its home demand and subsequently, the pipeline cuts imply there’s much less fuel out there for LNG exports, Ajayi mentioned.

This 12 months to-date, 50% of Egyptian exports have been offered into the European Union and Britain, based mostly on LSEG ship-tracking knowledge, he added.

Nonetheless, the nation has not exported any LNG since July amid excessive home demand this summer season and was solely set to renew exports in October. 

Egypt imports about 7 billion cubic toes per 12 months of pure fuel from the Israeli Tamar and Leviathan fuel fields, in response to knowledge from consultancy Rystad Power.

Egypt exported 3.7 million tonnes of LNG between Oct. 2022 and Jan. 2023, hitting a excessive of just under 1 million tonnes in Dec. 2022, the agency mentioned in a observe.

The continued battle is prone to have a restricted impression on immediate European fuel costs given present delicate climate, full storages and the potential for extra U.S. LNG imports, Aditya Saraswat, head of Center East upstream analysis at Rystad Power, mentioned.

“Nonetheless, there stays a danger of escalation right into a broader battle that would trigger a short-term improve in power costs,” Saraswat mentioned. 

The front-month Dutch TTF hub contract, the European benchmark, was buying and selling 3.4% decrease on Thursday at 47.80 euros per megawatt hour, however nonetheless some 25% greater than earlier than the Israel-Hamas battle.

 (Reuters – Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo; extra reporting by Marwa Rashad; modifying by Nina Chestney)