CAIRO, May 2 (Reuters) - Egypt's Natural Gas Holding

Company (EGAS) has struck an agreement with Norway's Hoegh LNG ( HMLPF )

to rent the Hoegh Galleon floating unit for liquefied natural

gas (LNG), the Egyptian petroleum ministry said on Thursday.

The floating storage and regasification unit will be leased

"to secure additional needs for domestic consumption during the

summer," the ministry said in a statement.

Hoegh LNG ( HMLPF ) said the unit would be leased for an interim

period from June 2024 to February 2026 and deployed in Ain

Sokhna on the Red Sea. The aim of the agreement was "to support

energy security in Egypt", it said in a statement.

Egypt is expected to ramp up LNG imports during the summer

months to meet heavy demand that had led to a wave of rolling

blackouts last summer, shocking Egyptians who had grown used to

a decade of reliable power supplies by the gas producer.

The government bought at least two LNG cargoes in April and

is expected to purchase up to 20 over the spring and summer to

prepare for increasing power demand, sources had told Reuters.

Returning to imports would reverse the most populous Arab

country's position as a natural gas exporter in recent years.

The North African country, which faces growing demand for

gas from its population of 106 million, has been seeking a

regional supply role but has made few large discoveries since

the giant Zohr field in 2015.

In 2023, Egypt's total natural gas production fell 11.5%

year-on-year to around 59.29 billion cubic meters (bcm), the

lowest production level since 2017, figures from the Joint

Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) show.