Damietta LNG plant produces first cargo after 2012

Italian oil and gas company Eni said that the Damietta LNG facility in Egypt produced and lifted on Monday.

This is the first LNG cargo produced by the terminal after it was shut down in 2012.

This is an important milestone in the process to complete the agreement reached in December 2020, Eni said in its statement.

The December deal is aimed at settling all pending disputes between the parties and at restarting the operations at the plant.

At this stage the agreement has already received all the authorizations of the competent authorities and its final closing is expected in the first half of March.

The agreement comes at an important moment, when also thanks to the fast time to market of Eni’s natural gas discoveries, especially the ones in the Zohr and Nooros fields, Egypt has regained its full capacity to meet domestic gas demand and can allocate surplus production for export through its LNG plants.

The Damietta plant has a capacity of 7.56 billion cubic meters per year but has been idle since November 2012.

Under the December agreement, Eni will take over the contract for the purchase of natural gas for the plant and will receive corresponding liquefaction rights. This increases the volumes of LNG in its portfolio by 3.78 billion cubic meters per year, which will be available on an FOB basis, with no destination restrictions.