Egypt lowers renewable energy goal, sticks with natural gas

Egypt has changed its mind about renewable energy goals. The country now wants 40% of its power to come from clean sources by 2040‚ not 58% as it said before. Karim Badawi‚ the guy in charge of oil and gas‚ told everyone this news on Sunday

Egypts not giving up on natural gas (which is a fossil fuel). Badawi said‚ “We need to work together to find more gas and get more money for exploring“ He wants companies to look for new places to drill‚ especially for natural gas

The country is trying to make friends with big oil companies again. Egypt owes them lots of money because it didnt have enough foreign cash. Since he got the job in July Badawi has been talking to many international energy firms

One of these companies‚ Eni from Italy‚ is going to start digging new holes in Egypts biggest gas field‚ Zohr‚ early next year. They want to pump out more gas. Zohr used to make lots of gas – about 3.2 billion cubic feet every day back in 2019. But now its only making about 1.9 billion cubic feet a day

Because Zohr isnt making as much gas‚ Egypt has to buy more from other places. Its getting gas through a pipe from Israel and buying special ships full of gas. Egypt is also buying more oil that has lots of sulphur in it. Last month‚ it bought more of this oil than it has in a long time

Egypt used to say it would make 42% of its power from clean sources by 2035‚ then changed that to 2030. In June‚ they said theyd make it 58% by 2040. But now theyve changed their mind again

This is a message to all of us to work together to increase discoveries and attract more investments through the bids being offered for exploration‚ aiming to achieve new discoveries in the region‚ which holds more wealth‚ particularly natural gas

The country is trying to balance using more clean energy with keeping its gas business going. Its a tricky situation‚ and Egypt is still figuring out what works best