According to the Anadolu agency, Algeria, Qatar and Egypt received financial gains and political weight thanks to gas exports to Europe in 2022.
And between 2022, the Arabs have a strategic economic weapon that is no less important than oil, as the situation in Ukraine has highlighted the vital role that natural gas represents for European economies that crave every drop of it.
In this defining phase of the global energy crisis, the Arab role, represented by the three major gas exporting countries, has manifested itself in keeping Europe warm, with the possibility of a more effective escalation of this role at several levels in 2023, whether in terms of increasing the volume of exports or entering new Arab countries // Gas Exporters Club.
Among the Arab gas-exporting countries, Algeria, Qatar and Egypt played the most prominent role in compensating part of natural gas supplies to Europe, especially after the bombings of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.
The Anatolia report says that Egypt does not have large reserves of natural gas, but in 2022 it doubled its export earnings by 171% compared to the previous year.
Natural gas exports in 2022 were about $8.4 billion, up from about $3.5 billion in 2021, or about $5 billion in additional revenue.
Even if exports did not exceed 8 million tons compared to Qatari’s 84 million tons, Cairo included itself in the list of countries supplying gas to Europe, especially within the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Alliance.
Egypt, in cooperation with foreign companies, stepped up gas exploration in the Mediterranean Sea, and at the end of 2022 announced the discovery of an offshore gas field, which it described as a large one, the volume of which, according to Western media, is 3.5 trillion cubic meters. The Zohr gas field has reserves of 30 trillion cubic feet).
Egypt has also expanded its maritime borders in the Mediterranean to expand its gas exploration area, prompting protests from the Libyan unity government and rejection even from the Libyan parliament near Cairo.
Source: Anatolia
