The cutting off of Egyptian natural gas exports to Jordan and Israel has increased the amount of gas pumped to Egyptian power stations by 17 percent, raising total supply to 85 percent, sources from the Electricity Ministry have said.
Egypt had resorted to the use of fuel oil as an alternative to gas for the operation of power stations as it is bound by agreements to export specific quantities of gas.
In the financial year 2004-2005 gas exports increased considerably, which negatively impacted the supply of gas to power stations which, in turn, had to depend more heavily on fuel oil.
The same source said power stations had at a certain point depended fully on fuel oil for their operations.
The source also said that machinery at more than one power station was damaged due to the use of poor quality fuel oil.
An engineer from the ministry who spoke on condition of anonymity said that power stations operated by Egypt were designed to run on natural gas and therefore do not operate as effectively with the use of other types of fuel.
The combustion of gas oil, he said, produces emissions that reduce the life of the power stations and cause their breakdown.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
