Power crisis threatens industrial sector

The government decided to reduce gas supplies to the industrial sector to address the power crisis, following a meeting between companies and President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi last Wednesday.

According to an August report issued by the Ministry of Petroleum, the gas supply to factories is being cut daily by 725m cubic feet, which represents 65% of the total consumption of the cement, fertiliser, iron, and methanex industries.

The total consumption of these industries is estimated at 1.25bn cubic feet. Gas is being cut to the industrial sector in order to provide gas to power plants, which also lack gas as a result of a decrease in gas production, according to the report.

The government has stopped pumping gas to factories of EBIC, Alexandria Fertilizers, and Egyptian Fertilizers since 6 August, to provide for the needs of power stations.

The Ministry of Petroleum lowered the amount of gas pumped to cement factories by about 331m cubic feet of gas per day. The total amount needed for cement factories is 430m cubic feet, according to the report.