Ashraf Abo Arafe
Three recent major gas-field discoveries will make Egypt self-sufficient in natural gas by 2020, Egypt’s petroleum minister Tarek El-Molla said on Monday.
In statements reported by state-run news agency MENA, El-Molla said the discoveries will help raise natural-gas output to 50 percent of the nation’s needs in 2018 and 100 percent in 2020.
“The gas fields of Zohr, Nooros and North Alexandria are among the most important projects contributing to an increase in natural-gas output,” El-Molla said.
Egypt’s natural gas-production rose to about 5.1 billion cubic feet per day (cfd) in 2017 from 4.4 billion cubic feet in 2016, with the start of production from the first phase of British Petroleum’s North Alexandria project.
The three largest projects, including the mammoth Mediterranean gas field Zohr, which was discovered by Italy’s Eni in 2015, are expected to collectively bring 4.6 billion cfd online by the start of 2019.
With the help of recent discoveries, Egypt aims to be an international hub for gas and petroleum production in the coming years, aiming to halt imports by 2019.
