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Desperate because the fallout from the war in Ukraine is hitting its economy, Egypt has saved herbal fuel at home to sell to Europe.
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By Viviane Ye
Follow our policy of the COP27 weather summit in Egypt.
CAIRO – On his way home from the downtown Cairo restaurant where he works on a recent evening, Ahmed Ali took a double takeover: Tahrir Square, home to the famous Egyptian museum and revolutions, was almost completely dark.
Usually, a golden light dripped. But that night, almost his lighting came from the red subway prevention signal.
Was there a blackout?Mr. Ali your fellow waiters. No, they said.
In August, at the height of Egypt’s summer, the government ordered government offices, stadiums, hotels and shopping malls to stock up on air conditioning and turn off lights to save energy. The savings on herbal fuel would be sold to Europe by a giant -up brand, helping Egypt weather an economic hurricane and Europe an energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The more we export to Europe, the more electricity shortages we will have here,” he said. Ali, 21. ” It’s smart for Europe, but it’s not a smart thing for us. “
For the Cairo government, however, a Europe that wants herbal fuel is a smart thing to do.
And while Egypt is the United Nations’ annual climate update conference, known as COP27, this week, promoting fossil fuels has been one of its most sensitive priorities.
Critics have questioned Egypt’s suitability to host the summit in other facets of its environmental record, adding lackluster emissions relief targets and major infrastructure projects that destroy green spaces in Cairo and suck water from the Nile, already its main source of water.
But it is in the spotlight.
While Egypt desperately wants cash as the fallout from the war in Ukraine hits its debt-ridden economy, Europe desperately wants herbal fuel after rejecting Russian power because of the war.
Enter Egypt and its two fuel liquefaction export plants, across the Mediterranean from Europe.
Since Egypt began pumping from the huge Mediterranean herbal fuel box known as Zohr in 2017, the country has sought to position itself as a major energy hub. , some imported and liquefied for re-export.
A direct fuel pipeline from the southern Mediterranean to Europe is impractical, experts say. This means that herbal fuel pumped elsewhere in the region will first have to go to Egypt to be liquefied before being re-exported to northern Europe by ship.
“The monetary scenario we are in has put us in a ridiculous position, cutting off electricity to Egyptians and promoting it to Europeans,” said Ahmed El Droubi, Greenpeace’s regional campaigns director for the Middle East.
But for Egypt, the question of positioning itself as a center of power goes beyond monetary aspects.
Egypt already has its geopolitical influence on two other main issues, illegal immigration and terrorism, which it has promised Europe will help counteract. Power has given him a new card to play against Western rebukes for his human rights record.
Egypt also of LNG shipments through the Suez Canal, on which the government recently increased tariffs, said Richard Probst, the Egyptian representative of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, a German Social Democratic political foundation.
“With Europe in need, few people will back down,” he said.
The European Parliament voted in July to label herbal fuel as a “green” fuel, opening the door to a flood of new investment. Western power corporations are making fuel deals with governments from Africa to Europe.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said a June agreement between Israel and Egypt to export a barn of herbal fuel to Europe would “contribute to the energy security of our EU. “
Egypt has rejected warnings from climate experts not to open new fuel fields if the world has a chance to restrict warming to 1. 5 degrees Celsius, the point experts say is necessary to avoid the worst effects. of climate change.
Egypt’s Oil Minister Tarek el-Molla recently called the fuel “the cleanest hydrocarbon fuel,” and it will continue to play a key role in the energy mix.
But environmental teams warn that fuel investments threaten to lock emerging countries into decades of dependence on fossil fuels.
“Instead of putting those big, very expensive investments into dead-end projects, they redirect themselves to blank energy projects” that would ultimately charge much less than fossil fuels, said Rachel Cleetus, director of climate and energy policy at the Union of Concerned. . Scientist.
“But richer countries are not in a position to move their fingers,” he added. They are also expanding investment in fossil fuels. “And it’s a much harder challenge for low-income countries to make that transition. “
There are, however, serious doubts about Egypt’s ability to continue meeting its own fuel needs, let alone those of Europe.
“Communicating that Egypt can supply Europe with abundant fuel is, for lack of a better word, a myth,” said Peter Stevenson, editor-in-chief of the Eastern Mediterranean at MEES, an oil and fuel research company.
Even if the two L. N. G. plants were operating at full capacity, they may only export about 11% of what Europe received from Russia, assuming Europe can only each drop of Egyptian gas, most of which goes to the highest bidder in the world.
But the plants have operated well below capacity, highlighting a deeper problem: Despite the providence of the Mediterranean fuel field, Egypt has virtually no surplus fuel to sell.
Demand for domestic electric power has risen nearly 35% since 2015, driven by a rapidly growing population, while fuel production has declined since last fall, thanks in part to overdrilling.
To close the hole and free up more fuel for sale, Egypt is powering some of its power plants with fuel oil, a low-quality fuel oil that burns dirtier and shortens the plants’ life, said Mohamed El Sobki, a strength teacher. Thanks to fuel oil, Egypt’s electric power sector began emitting carbon dioxide at particularly high rates.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” Professor el-Sobki said. “We’re expanding the economic outlook for herbal gas, but we’re also damaging the environment. “
Egypt controlled exporting two LNG shipments to Europe in August after expanding fuel imports from Israel and burning more fuel oil at home. However, without such measures, Egypt would have nothing to sell and would even force cuts, Mr. Stevenson.
Ordering power cuts in the heat of August, when the national call for peaks, would possibly have helped as well.
But the race to Egypt on a fuel hub appears to have diverted attention from its huge blank energy potential, which requires more investment and greater government regulation, analysts say.
Despite its vast deserts, windy coastlines and year-round sunshine, 4. 9% of Egypt’s electricity came from renewable resources last fiscal year, well below its target of 20% until 2022.
The Climate Action Tracker assesses Egypt’s emissions relief pledges, which until recently even came with a numerical target, as “grossly insufficient. “
Some energy experts agree with Egypt that fuel can play a role in keeping lights on and homes warm as the world moves toward blank energy, provided fossil fuel investments are temporarily withdrawn. In the long term, they say, Egypt is geographically well placed to export blank energy from the renewable Middle East to Europe.
As some African countries have pointed out, Egypt and other emerging countries can hardly be blamed for seeking to benefit when countries first received fossil fuels.
There is “growing tension between evolved and emerging countries that will be fully exposed” at the climate conference, said Jason Bordoff, co-founding dean of the Columbia School of Climate. the problem, but asking us not to industrialize in the same way that developed countries did. ‘»
Ahead of the weather conference, Egypt’s investment in blank energy increased, with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi recently claiming that green projects now account for around 40% of total public investment. Egypt plans to unveil a national strategy to make green hydrogen, a still energy-intensive fuel target produced from renewable sources, at the summit.
For now, he is king.
El-Sisi was due to meet with the European Commission’s von der Leyen at Monday’s summit, the assembly was later cancelled. On the agenda: fuel for Europe.
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