Nile Valley Gas Company (NVGC) was granted an exclusive franchise by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) in April 1998 to develop a natural gas transmission and distribution pipeline system to provide natural gas to consumers in Upper Egypt.
NVGC was formed as a joint venture led by British Gas with a 37.5 per cent interest, Edison with a 37.5 per cent interest, Orascom with a 20 per cent interest and Middle East Gas Association holding the remaining 5 per cent. Edison has since sold most of its Egyptian assets to Petronas of Malaysia.
NVGC holds the right to develop a pipeline system across an area, which commences at El Wasta, a small town 80 km south of Cairo, and extends through the governorates of Beni Suef, El Minya, Asyut, Sohag, Qena, Luxor and Aswan, including the New Valley governorate and Toshka.
The completed pipeline extends 1,200km and its ultimate marketing capacity is targeted to be as much as 6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d).
The 1,200km pipeline has been constructed in five stages. In the first phase of the project, NVGC took over a pipeline built by the Government from Cairo to the Kuraymat Power Station located near Beni Suef. Stage 2 involved the construction of 150 km of 32 inch diameter pipeline extending from Beni Suef to Abu Qurqas. Stage 3 saw 136 km of 32 inch diameter pipeline laid from the governorate of Minya to Assiut at a cost of $US75 million, while Stage 4 involved the laying of 100 km of 30 inch diameter pipeline from Assiut to Sohag.
The final stage involved the laying of 408 km of 30 inch diameter pipeline from Sohag to Aswan. The last section of the pipeline was brought online at the end of November and Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi attended a ceremony in Aswan to celebrate the completion of the project.
The project also involved the design and construction of three compressor stations – two between Beni Sueg and Assiut and one near Cairo.
The 1,200 km pipeline was worth approximately $US9.3 billion in investment and forms part of a broader development programme. Mr Fahmi said that the delivery of natural gas to the provinces of North and South Sinai would accelerate the reconstruction and development of the area by providing energy to attract industrial projects.
The whole pipeline has a design capacity of 0.84 Bcf/d across a zone populated with massive agricultural and agro-industrial settlements.
“The pipeline will have a major role in reshaping the investment map of the entire southern Egypt,” said Mr Fahmi.
