That is why the producing companies want to export and are desperate to do so quickly because, within the next few years, the market for Egyptian gas will be threatened by competition from the large discoveries of natural gas fields in Russia, Turkmenistan, Qatar, Iran and Libya. Amoco has a project to export Egyptian gas via an underwater pipeline from a natural gas depot on the northern Egyptian coast to Izmir. From that Turkish port, underwater pipelines will transport between 125 to 200 billion cubic metres of gas per year to Israel and Lebanon, a quantity that, nevertheless, falls short of these countries' energy needs. Another project is currently being discussed with Amman to transport 400 billion cubic meters of gas per year across Sinai to Jordan. However, by exporting gas, Egypt will forfeit one of the best opportunities it has ever had to develop its economy and raise its standards of living.
Energy is a fundamental ingredient for economic expansion.
Exporting energy resources should not be one of our priorities. There is ample room to augment the domestic use of gas. Gas consumption in Egypt is far less than that of other countries, even neighboring ones. Egypt presently consumes 1.6 billion cubic metres of gas per day, primarily in generating electricity and, to a lesser extent, in the operation of cement, fertiliser and sugar plants. The next five-year development plan only projects a 75 per cent increase in the use of gas, again, primarily to convert more electricity generating plants from liquid fuel to gas.