Egypt Seeks 20 LNG Cargoes for Winter

Egypt is seeking winter cargoes of liquefied natural gas for the first time in years, highlighting a deepening energy shortage, Bloomberg reported.

State-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. issued one of its biggest tenders, asking for 17 shipments for its floating import terminal at Ain Sukhna and three more cargoes to be delivered into neighboring Aqaba, Jordan, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Egypt is seeking the deliveries from October to December, the people said.

Meanwhile, Egypt's Suez Canal Economic Zone signed contracts worth $1.067 billion linked to several projects to manufacture chemical and food products and renewable energy components at the China-Africa summit, the prime minister's office said in a statement on Friday.

In other economic news, Egypt's central bank as expected left its overnight interest rates on hold, saying inflation pressures had subsided but that economic growth had softened.

The lending rate remained at 28.25%, while the deposit rate stood at 27.25%, the bank said in a statement.

It was the third time that it left rates unchanged since a 600 basis point (bps) hike on March 6, when it signed a $8 billion financial support agreement with the International Monetary Fund.