Egypt has issued a five-year tender to lease a second liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, the head of the state gas board told Reuters on Monday, seeking to tackle an energy crisis.

Egypt was once an energy exporter but declining oil and gas production and increasing consumption has forced the government to divert energy supplies to the domestic market, turning the country into a net energy importer.

"We launched yesterday a tender to lease a second LNG import terminal for a period of five years. We have sent it to eight international companies and we expect to get a reply within a week," Khaled Abdel Badie said in a telephone interview.

The floating regasification and import terminal, which converts super-cooled LNG into gas, would be Egypt's second. An import terminal from Norway's Hoegh LNG arrived in Egypt last month.

Egypt has struck a number of LNG supply deals, including a March agreement with Russia's Gazprom to import 35 cargoes of LNG.

Egypt also agreed in January to import 33 LNG cargoes from Trafigura, 9 from Vitol, 7 from Noble , and 6 from Algeria's Sonatrach, to be delivered in this year and next. – Reuters