Gas suddenly stopped flowing. They are desperately looking for help

• Egypt is urgently looking for alternative fuel sources after the suspension of gas supplies from Israel – caused by the escalating conflict in the Middle East – threatened the country's energy stability.
• The government has cut supplies to industry, announced a tender for the import of one million tonnes of heating oil and is in talks with Qatar on long-term gas contracts.
• Authorities are calling on citizens to save energy to avoid summer blackouts during heatwaves reaching 38 degrees Celsius.

Israel on Friday ordered a halt to two of its gas projects — including its largest field, Leviathan — over security concerns following attacks on Iran and Tehran’s threats of retaliation, resulting in a near-complete halt to supplies to Egypt.

A prolonged interruption of Israeli gas supplies could threaten the stability of the country's energy system. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's government is already implementing a plan aimed at avoiding a repeat of previous years, when heatwaves caused nationwide power cuts that sparked public discontent.

The specter of renewed shortages comes as summer energy demand increases, with temperatures in Cairo set to reach 38 degrees Celsius in the coming week, Bloomberg reports

He added that the Egyptians plan to announce a tender soon for the import of one million tons of heating oil, with delivery scheduled for August. This would be another tender to ensure electricity demand is met at a time when the conflict between Israel and Iran threatens the continuity of gas supplies.

Cairo also plans to increase the number of floating regasification units and is in talks with Qatar on long-term gas supply contracts.

They are frantically looking for a replacement. Suddenly, the gas stopped flowing

At the same time, the authorities are appealing to citizens to save electricity , emphasizing that this is crucial to avoid supply disruptions this summer. In addition, it was decided to suspend the supply of gas, heating oil and diesel to some industries for a period of two weeks, in order to free up about 9,000 tons of diesel per day for power plants.

Egypt is estimated to have a daily gas deficit of about 3.5 billion cubic feet. Israel has so far covered between 800 million and 1 billion cubic feet of that gap. Egypt is making up the rest by importing LNG, Bloomberg reported.

The specter of renewed shortages comes as summer energy demand increases, with temperatures of up to 38 degrees Celsius forecast in Cairo next week.