In recognition of the importance of the energy file and giving the full priority to develop it, especially with regard to its strategic national project to transform Egypt to a regional center for gas and oil trading, the state sought to proceed with the establishment of the Gas Regulatory Authority (GasReg), the first independent body established to regulate, follow up and control all the gas market activities to accelerate activating the “law of gas market activities regulation” and its executive regulations issued on February 14, 2018 as a first step in order to complete the legislative and regulatory structure necessary for achieving this national ambitious project in parallel with other steps being taken in full swing to develop Egypt’s infrastructure of trading gas and oil, which are all necessary steps in the framework of an ambitious working program adopted by the project of developing and modernizing the petroleum sector. There is no doubt that the establishment of the GasReg and the commencement of exercising its competences will make a paradigm shift in the Egyptian gas market and represents a step forward towards the establishment of a free and liberalized gas market in Egypt for the first time and to contribute positively in attracting new investments from the private sector and international companies. The private sector is given the opportunity to compete in all activities of gas trading, storage, shipment and distribution within the domestic market as a key pillar in the national project of Egypt to be a regional center for trading gas and oil. In turn, the GasReg shall regulate and monitor the implementation of these activities to ensure that there are no monopolistic practice, issue the necessary licenses and set the gas facilities usage tariff of the National Gas Networks.
There is no doubt that the mutations achieved by the Egyptian gas industry in recent years have given it a distinguished position as a source of gas supply in the presence of the recent promising discoveries in the deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea and it became the cynosure of the international companies, especially with a strong infrastructure that contributed strongly in launching the project of transforming Egypt to a regional hub for trading gas and oil which allow Egypt to contribute to meet the growing needs of the EU countries by working side by side with regional partners and gas producers in the Eastern Mediterranean to contribute to the added value of Egypt’s gas infrastructure for the benefit of the Egyptian economy.
Therefore, our focus has been on providing the power to achieve this direction, which was the issuance of the law and the establishment of the gas regulatory authority which will play a major role in achieving Egypt’s ambitious directions in the field of energy based on the legal framework Under which it operates and manages efficiently by a carefully chosen board of specialists and experts in the working field of the GasReg.
Eng. Tarek El-Molla
Chairman
Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources