Cairo, Feb 29: Egypt will start exporting liquefied natural gas from the Nile Delta city of Rosetta to France in July and to the US in December, Oil Minister Sameh Fahmy was quoted as saying on Sunday. Fahmy valued investments in Rosetta's gas export facilities at $4-bil, with the bulk of the investments made by international companies. Recently, Fahmy put natural gas reserves at 62 TCF, making it second after Algeria in total reserves in the Mediterranean basin. Egypt aims to be a major supplier of LNG to Europe and the US as two major LNG projects start up. SEGAS, located in Damietta on the Mediterranean coast, is expected to come on line at the end of this year. ELNG, the second project, is located at Idku near Alexandria and is expected to start up in mid-2005.

Bureau Report