Egypt’s new Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Sources Karim Badawi said the ministry is pressing ahead with efforts to halt the load-shedding scheme by the third week of July as announced previously by the government.

In an inspection tour of the national natural gas control centre at the Egyptian Natural Gas Company (GASCO), Badawi reviewed the status of gas supplies to the national electricity grid, read a statement by the petroleum ministry.

Minister Badawi asserted that they are regularly receiving the recently contracted shipments of imported natural gas and mazut fuel, which were secured to address power outages, the statement added.

Meanwhile, the ministry, he added, is working to boost the domestic production of petroleum products, including accelerating the development of newly discovered wells to put them into production, along with intensifying research and exploration activities across the country’s land and offshore territories.

“The cabinet has a clear vision focused on working to solve the load-shedding issue radically via providing finance as well as working in an integrated manner with the ministries of electricity and finance to take the necessary and supportive measures to achieve this,” he was quoted as saying.

Egypt has grappled with a shortage in natural gas supplies used for power generation, driven by the ongoing regional tensions and the unprecedented heatwave engulfing the country.

The soaring temperatures have led to a surge in electricity consumption across the country, as people heavily rely on air conditioning. This has, in turn, significantly increased the demand for gas to generate the required electricity.

Recent weeks witnessed unprecedented pressure on the national gas grid leading the government to extend power cuts for an extra hour nationwide. Some fertilizer firms halted production due shortage of gas used for power generation at their plants before resuming operation days later.

As a result, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced a series of measures to address the issue, including introducing a $1.18 billion financing package to purchase the required quantities of petroleum products.

Under the announced package, the government is targeting to cease power outages entirely from the third week of July until the end of summer.