Egypt began importing gas from Israel’s largest offshore gas field, Leviathan, on Wednesday, a step Cairo hopes will help it become a regional energy hub.

Rapid growth in Egypt’s natural gas supplies, boosted by the discovery of the Mediterranean’s largest field, turned it from a net importer to exporter in late 2018.

Egypt hopes its infrastructure and location will help it become a link for energy trading between the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Crucially, Egypt has two liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants that have been idled or running at less than their potential capacity and can be used for exports.

The bulk of Egypt’s gas exports is liquefied natural gas (LNG) sent from its Idku liquefaction terminal, run by Egyptian LNG, a joint venture between the state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and EGAS, as well as Royal Dutch Shell, Petronas and Engie.

It has two operational LNG trains, each with a capacity of 3.6 million tonnes, according to Egyptian LNG’s website. The site has room for an additional four trains.

Egypt has a second gas liquefaction plant at Damietta that has been idle since February 2013 after gas production slipped and the government diverted gas exports to the domestic market.

It has also been at the center of a dispute between Egypt and Italian-Spanish company Union Fenosa Gas (UFG), which has a majority stake.

Damietta has an annual capacity of up to 5 million tonnes and can store 130,000 tonnes of LNG, government websites show.

Egypt exported the equivalent of 172.8 billion cubic feet (bcf) LNG in the 2018/19 fiscal year ending in June, according to EGAS’s annual report. Egypt also exported 53 bcf to Jordan by pipeline and imported 51.6 bcf of LNG in the same period.