Egypt to Keep Eni's Find for Itself, Stiffening Mideast Gas Race

  • Egypt to give priority to internal market over exports
  • Eni's discovery of offshore field to cut Egypt's LNG imports
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Egypt plans to keep all the natural gas produced at a giant field Eni SpA found off its Mediterranean coast to itself, heightening competition among gas producers in the Middle East and Africa.

“The priority is Egypt’s internal needs; exports will come next, depending on the discoveries,” Khaled Abdel Badie, chairman of state-run Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co., said Wednesday in a phone interview from Cairo. “All the gas from this field will be allocated to the internal market. Eni has agreed to that.”