Europe turns to Africa in bid to replace Russian natural gas

More than 60% of Egypt's natural gas consumption still is used by power stations to keep the country running. [iStockphoto]

A new liquefied natural gas project off Africa's western coast may only be 80% complete, but already the prospect of a new energy supplier has drawn visits from the leaders of Poland and Germany.

The initial field near Senegal and Mauritania's coastlines is expected to contain about 15 trillion cubic feet (425 billion cubic meters) of gas, five times more than what gas-dependent Germany used in all of 2019. But production isn't expected to start until the end of next year.