Egypt will halt summer load-shedding power cuts Sunday, PM says

DUBAI (Reuters) -Egypt will halt load-shedding power cuts during the summer as of Sunday, after some natural gas shipments arrived, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Wednesday, in a bid to end a crisis that inconvenienced a population of 106 million.

The North African country has been grappling with power shortages as high cooling demand during summer drives up consumption. Egypt generates most of its electricity from burning natural gas.

Load-shedding refers to rotating power cuts in parts of the electricity grid to prevent failure of the entire system when demand exceeds capacity.

Egypt's daily power consumption has exceeded 37 gigawatts, up 12% from last year, Madbouly said in a televised press conference.

It has received five cargoes containing 155,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas out of 21 cargoes that it contracted for, the petroleum ministry said on Monday.

Egypt needs to import around $1.18 billion worth of natural gas and mazut fuel oil to end the long-running cuts, Madbouly said last month.

Egypt had not imported LNG since 2018, but natural gas supplies have dwindled as its growing population and urban development have driven up power demand.

The government plans to address summer energy demand in 2025 through investing in renewable energy, Madbouly added.

(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Rod Nickel)