Egypt’s imports of US natural gas surge 190% y/y in January-February 2026

Egypt’s imports of US natural gas surged by around 190% year-on-year (y/y) during the first two months of 2026, reaching 82.1bn cubic feet compared with 28.3bn cubic feet in the same period of 2025, according to data from the US Department of Energy, cited by Economy Plus on May 17.

The sharp increase made Egypt the fourth-largest importer of US gas during the period, driven by the country’s growing reliance on imported liquefied natural gas to meet domestic demand and avoid shortages during peak consumption periods.

The country’s imports of US gas had already jumped by 257% y/y during 2025 to reach 435.4bn cubic feet, amid a widening gap between local production and consumption, particularly during the summer months when electricity demand rises sharply.

Egypt has faced a critical natural gas shortage driven by a 30% decline in domestic production at mature fields like Zohr, turning the former exporter into a heavy importer dependent on expensive global spot markets. The vulnerability has been severely aggravated by geopolitical conflict, which completely halted traditional pipeline imports from neighbouring fields and forced Egypt to finance a massive wave of costly emergency LNG shipments to prevent summer power grid failures.

In addition, the county’s reliance on natural gas imports from Israel has exposed it to severe energy shocks, as wartime safety shutdowns at Israeli offshore fields in early 2026 cut normal pipeline flows by up to 95%. The sudden gap has drained foreign currency reserves and forced rolling domestic power blackouts.