SEGAS LNG is a

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

(LNG) complex in

Damietta Damietta ( ' ) is a harbor, port city and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the Damietta branch, an eastern distributary of the Nile Delta, from the Mediterranean Sea, and about north of Cairo. It was a Cath ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. It is located west of

Port Said Port Said ( , , ) is a port city that lies in the northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, straddling the west bank of the northern mouth of the Suez Canal. The city is the capital city, capital of the Port S ...

. The name SEGAS comes from the Spanish Egyptian Gas Company. The complex consists of a single LNG train capable of liquifying up to 5 million tons of natural gas per year and is one of two LNG export plants in Egypt (the other being a two-train 7.2Mt/yr LNG plant in Idku, owned by

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

and

Petronas Petroliam Nasional Berhad, commonly known as PETRONAS (stylised in all caps), is a Malaysian Multinational corporation, multinational petroleum, oil and natural gas, gas company headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. Established in 1974, it is a lega ...

which commenced operation in 2005).

History

The LNG plant was ordered in 2000 and the construction works started in September 2001. The complex came on-stream in December 2004 and the first cargo was loaded on 20 January 2005. When SEGAS LNG became operational, it was the largest single train LNG plant in the world. On 28 March 2005

Eni Eni is an Italian oil and gas corporation. Eni or ENI may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia, the Argentine intelligence academy * Groupe des écoles nationales d’ingénieurs (Groupe ENI), a French engi ...

, BP, and EGAS signed a memorandum of understanding of construction of the second train. On 19 June 2006, partners signed the framework agreement for the expansion of the capacity of the LNG plant to 10 million tonnes per year. It was planned to be supplied from the Satis gas discovery in the offshore Nile Delta. However, the plan was postponed due limited gas reserves and increased domestic demand in Egypt.

Technical features

The output capacity of the plant is 5 million tons of LNG per year. The initial capacity was designed to be 5.5 million tons of LNG per year. The complex includes the LNG liquefaction train, inlet gas reception area (metering and analysis),

natural gas liquids Natural-gas condensate, also called natural gas liquids, is a low-density mixture of hydrocarbon liquids that are present as gaseous components in the raw natural gas produced from many natural gas fields. Some gas species within the raw natura ...

removal and fractionation area, a docking jetty for tanker loading and transportation, LNG refrigerated storage and export facilities (tanks and booms), utilities and supporting infrastructure (power, water and roads), gas metering and treatment facilities (acid gas removal and dehydration), refrigerant condensate and LNG storage (two 150,000 m³ PC LNG storage tanks). The total investment costs of the LNG complex were around US$1.3 billion. The Damietta LNG complex was designed by KBR and constructed by KBR, JGC Corporation, M. W. Kellogg Limited and Técnicas Reunidas. Saipem constructed storage tanks while Dodsal Pte Ltd was the subcontractor responsible for the construction of the mechanical works of LNG train.

Gas supply

The plant was originally supplied by natural gas from the West Delta Deep Marine (WDDM) Concession Area about from the LNG complex. It is supplied by the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS).

Export markets

Produced LNG is exported mainly to the Spanish market via a new receiving terminal at

Sagunto Sagunto () is a municipality of Spain, located in the province of Valencia, Valencian Community. It belongs to the modern fertile ''comarca'' of Camp de Morvedre. It is located approximately north of the city of Valencia, close to the Costa ...

. 3.2 million tons of LNG per year is taken by Unión Fenosa Gas. The rest of the LNG is sold by the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company.

Plant closure and reopening

In mid-2013 the LNG complex was shut due to the lack of natural gas. The gas that had acted as feedstock for the plant was diverted to satisfy domestic gas demand in Egypt. Gas supply was only restored in February 2021, following the startup of the Zohr gas field and the commencement of gas imports to Egypt from Israel via pipeline.

Operating company

The LNG complex is operated by SEGAS, which is controlled by Unión Fenosa Gas, a joint venture of Unión Fenosa and

. Unión Fenosa Gas owns 80% of SEGAS shares. Minor share holders are the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS - 10%) and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC – 10%).

References

{{coord missing, Egypt Liquefied natural gas plants Oil and gas companies of Egypt Eni Damietta JGC Corporation