Israel’s recent resumption of limited natural gas exports following an intense week of airstrikes with Iran has once again exposed the fragility of Africa’s energy interdependence. After temporarily shutting down the Leviathan and Karish offshore gas fields—two of its major energy assets—Israel’s Energy Ministry confirmed that only surplus volumes would be exported, with the bulk currently flowing to Jordan and trace amounts to Egypt. Tamar field remains the sole operating site, tasked primarily with meeting domestic demand.
This seemingly regional disruption has sent reverberations across North Africa, with Egypt bearing the brunt of the fallout. As Egypt’s domestic gas production continues to decline—dropping to a nine-year low in February 2025—it has become increasingly dependent on Israeli imports, which now account for up to 60% of its gas imports and about one-fifth of its total consumption, according to Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) figures. The sudden cut in supply forced several Egyptian fertilizer plants, which heavily rely on gas as feedstock, to halt operations—an industrial blow with agricultural implications across Africa.
To plug the gap, Egypt has resorted to burning more fuel oil in power plants and aggressively importing liquefied natural gas (LNG). In recent weeks, it signed over $8 billion worth of LNG contracts and rapidly mobilized additional floating storage regasification units (FSRUs) to handle emergency volumes. This response underscores the strategic urgency that energy insecurity poses to the wider African continent—especially those economies that rely on imported fuel to power their industries and stabilize food production systems.
The fertilizer shutdown, while temporary, points to deeper structural weaknesses. Egypt produces approximately 3.3 million tonnes of urea fertilizer annually, and disruptions ripple beyond its borders. Many Sub-Saharan countries depend on Egyptian exports to maintain their own agricultural output. A longer-term shortfall could elevate fertilizer prices continent-wide, mirroring price shocks witnessed during the early months of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and ultimately compromising the continent’s food security.
Global energy market volatility now plays an outsized role in African fiscal health. Countries like Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, and Morocco are locked into LNG or fuel oil procurement deals denominated in dollars. As prices fluctuate based on geopolitical tremors, budgetary pressures mount, forcing governments to redirect funds from social and climate programs to subsidize fuel or food costs. For many African economies—already coping with debt vulnerabilities—this is a dangerous balancing act.
Amid the crisis lies a critical opportunity: energy resilience must become central to Africa’s sustainability vision. Egypt’s rapid pivot to alternative fuel sources and infrastructure scaling offers a blueprint. Other countries can learn from this by investing in modular import terminals, diversifying procurement partners, and building regional interconnectors that provide redundancy and flexibility. Equally vital is the role of renewable energy, an area where African countries can decouple from fossil fuel volatility altogether. In contrast to its constrained gas flows, Israel recently announced that solar contributed up to 40% of its national electricity mix in early June—a statistic that speaks volumes about the potential of renewables in times of geopolitical stress.
Africa cannot afford to treat renewable infrastructure as a luxury or climate obligation alone—it is a strategic necessity. The continent’s vast solar, wind, and geothermal resources remain largely untapped. National energy plans must prioritize decentralization, battery storage, and green grid integration to hedge against imported energy shocks.
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Finally, the Egypt-Israel episode calls attention to the need for energy diplomacy across the continent. Just as Israel quickly coordinated with Jordan and Egypt to restore limited flows, African nations must foster intra-continental energy cooperation, ensuring that surplus capacity in one region can stabilize demand in another. Whether through cross-border power pools or shared LNG terminals, regional solidarity is the best bulwark against external shocks.
Energy security, economic resilience, and sustainability are no longer separate priorities. They are deeply intertwined. Africa’s pathway to a sustainable future will depend not only on how much energy it can produce—but on how flexibly, affordably, and equitably that energy is delivered. What is playing out in the Eastern Mediterranean is more than a crisis; it is a wake-up call.
