2022 / early-mid 2023 . The US provided the majority of LNG cargoes to Croatia ( 82 %), Greece ( 55 %), and Malta ( 50 %) in 2Q21 .
East Mediterranean
Situated at the nexus of Europe , Asia , and Africa , the Eastern Mediterranean region has considerable export optionality for its abundant untapped gas reserves . The East Mediterranean countries of Egypt , Israel , and Cyprus are gas-rich and determined to get their gas to market despite regional geopolitical considerations , high capital costs , and fluctuating global LNG and gas prices . The introduction of ambitious net zero policies in advanced markets has introduced a further challenge to developing major gas and LNG export projects in the region – particularly as Europe and Asia are target export markets for the Eastern Mediterranean region .
In Egypt , exports from the 5 million tpy Damietta LNG export plant resumed in 2021 after an almost nine-year shutdown . Damietta ’ s return to operations gives Egypt an additional export outlet , particularly for gas production from the Zohr field and gas imports from Israel ’ s Tamar and Leviathan fields which started in 2020 under the Egypt-Israel gas export agreement . Egypt ’ s other LNG export terminal – the 7.2 million tpy Idku terminal – ramped up loading of LNG cargoes over 2021 compared to 2020 rates due to higher LNG sport prices globally . Both Damietta and Idku have excess liquefaction capacity which could be utilised by gas produced in Israel and Cyprus .
The owners of the Tamar and Leviathan fields in Israel have considered proposals for offshore liquefaction ( via an FLNG facility ) for LNG exports at various times , but these proposals have not become a reality . In October 2021 , Israel announced that it is considering the construction of a new gas pipeline between Israel and Egypt to increase supplies of Israeli gas to Egypt by an additional 3 billion m 3 / y to 5 billion m 3 / y , some of which could be liquefied at Damietta and Idku .
When the Aphrodite gas field was discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea , offshore Cyprus in 2011 , Cyprus switched its plans to become an LNG importer to an LNG exporter . The estimated reserves were subsequently downgraded , making an LNG export project potentially commercially unviable . The Aphrodite partners are also considering developing a pipeline to supply gas from Aphrodite to Damietta and Idku for export as LNG , although issues of cross-border unitisation between the vast majority of the Aphrodite field located in Cyprus ’ exclusive economic zone and a small part located in Israel ’ s exclusive economic zone may need to be resolved before production could commence from Aphrodite .
The actual construction of these pipelines between Israel and Cyprus on the one hand and Egypt on the other are dependent on both strategic alignment between the infrastructure owners and regional co-operation at a political level . This goes hand-in-hand with price-specific considerations . It is unlikely that East Mediterranean LNG exports would be able to compete for supply to the premium Asian LNG market due to longer voyage times compared to LNG supplies from LNG export terminals closer to Asia . Consequently , it is likely that East Mediterranean LNG would be supplied into the European LNG market where delivered prices typically lag behind Asian delivered prices , or to the growing African LNG import market where there may be higher levels of political and credit risk .
Reprinted from February 2022