Egypt aims to import $1.18bn of fuel oil and natural gas in a bid to end power cuts.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced on national television that the shipments should arrive in full by the third week of July.
Power outages have worsened due to heatwaves, but the boost to strategic reserves should avoid the need for further shutdowns this summer.
Reuters reported the government has already contracted to buy 300,000 tonnes of low-quality mazut fuel oil worth $180m.
This is equivalent to six MR2 cargoes.
Shipments are expected to arrive next week.
Mazut fuel is typically used in former Soviet Union countries to feed power plants.
No details were given about gas cargoes.
Daily power cuts have been extended from two to three hours as electricity use soared.
Egyptian social media accounts were rife with complaints, as citizens were forced to buy power generators.
Unable to provide fuel
The outages, or “load shedding”, have been in place since July last year as demand rose and gas production fell.
“We had said that we planned to end load shedding by the end of 2024 … we do not have a power generation problem or a network problem, we are unable to provide fuel,” Madbouly said in the broadcast.
“With the increase in consumption related to the major development and population increase, there has been a lot of pressure on our dollar resources,” he added.
The prime minister also said gas production in a neighbouring country had come to a full halt for 12 hours leading to an interruption in the supply.
But he did not name the country.
Egypt’s Abu Qir Fertilizers said on Tuesday that three of its plants had halted production because their supply of natural gas was cut.
