The war with Iran has doubled what Egypt pays for imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), and Cairo has been deferring cargoes into 2027 and burning fuel oil in its power plants to hold down the bill.

The country asked suppliers to push five of its 15 November LNG cargoes into 2027, on top of about 15 already deferred since July. According to a government official cited by Asharq Bloomberg, the price of a single cargo has risen as much as 100% since September and climbed above US$100 million. Domestic gas output fell to 3.63 billion cubic feet per day in August, as older fields declined faster than new wells came online.