Xinhua: Egypt mulls energy diversification amid fuels shortage

The shortage of natural gas and the huge energy subsidies provided to large factories in Egypt are behind the recurrent power outages in the most populous Arab country, Egyptian energy experts said.

Egypt has been exporting gas to Israel, Jordan and other countries since 2005, for allegedly below-market prices, which lead the country to suffer shortage of the gas provided for operating power stations.

"Power outages in Egypt started in 2008 when the country had to use diesel for power stations as alternative for natural gas, causing maintenance issues that cost about 10 billion Egyptian pounds (around 1.4 billion U.S. dollars)," said international energy expert Ibrahim Zahran.

Sources at the electricity ministry said power stations in Egypt now generate together 21,000 megawatt instead of the maximum of 24,000 megawatt every day, while consuming about 75 million cubic meters of gas and 25,000 tons of diesel on a daily basis.

However, Zahran noted that the capacity of power generation in Egypt is 30,000 megawatt per day while the amount produced is only 18,000 megawatt, causing the ongoing crisis.

Experts said the country lacks at least 20 percent of the natural gas required for operating power stations and lost about 10 billion dollars from 2005 to 2011 due to exporting natural gas to Israel, Jordan and Spain. MORE