Giant Zohr to make Egypt regional energy center: OAPEC

CAIRO – 4 February 2018: Abbas Ali Al-Naqi, secretary-general of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), said that giant Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean will transform Egypt into a regional energy center, and also contribute to achieving energy self-sufficiency in the coming years.

He added in an interview with Egypt Today that the average oil price will exceed $60 per barrel, stressing that the call for reducing oil production led by Saudi Arabia and Russia is the first achievement by OAPEC.

Al-Naqi revealed that the planned Arab investments in the energy sector are estimated at $806 billion from 2017 until 2021, of which 58 percent are directed to oil and natural gas projects.

OAPEC is a multi-governmental organization headquartered in Kuwait which coordinates energy policies among oil-producing Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Syria and Tunisia.

How do you see the launch of Zohr gas field's first stage?

With reserves of more than 30 trillion cubic feet, Zohr is one of the most important gas fields discovered recently in the Eastern Mediterranean region. This discovery will contribute to transforming Egypt into an important regional energy center. Egypt has succeeded in starting the gas production from Zohr with an initial rate of 350 million cubic feet in December 2017, only two years since its discovery.

After reaching its full production capacity of 2.7 billion cubic feet by the end of 2019, Zohr will effectively contribute to achieving Egypt's energy self-sufficiency.

How can Egypt benefit from the start of Zohr's first stage of production?

Energy projects contribute to increasing cooperation between various parties. The unique location of Egypt and its integrated infrastructure will attract the attention of many countries in the region to achieve mutual cooperation, making Egypt a regional energy hub.

How do you see the OAPEC's initiative to reduce oil production?

The stability of crude oil prices in the global market, which is linked to reducing oil supplies, has been achieved through the new agreement to reduce production, which is the first achievement by OAPEC and its partners.

What do you see the future of world oil prices in 2018?

It is hard to predict the oil prices in the future as the factors affecting these prices are variables. However, there are strong expectations that the average oil prices will remain above $60 per barrel in the coming period.

What are the difficulties and challenges facing the petroleum industry in the Arab countries?

The economic and financial crises resulting from the decline in oil prices and the rise in production costs are the most important challenges facing the Arab countries, in addition to the huge financial investments required to develop oil projects, in accordance with international environmental standards.

What are the most important activities prepared by OAPEC in the coming period?

OAPEC is preparing for the 11th Arab Energy Conference that will be hosted by Marrakesh, Morocco in 2018.

OAPEC's secretariat will organize several coordination meetings among the member countries during the year, including the meeting of the Arab companies derived from OAPEC, the meeting of environment and climate change experts in the member countries and the coordination meeting of natural gas experts in member countries.

In cooperation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, OAPEC's secretariat will hold a workshop on the "Impact of Response Measures on the Petroleum Industry" at the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 24) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) scheduled on December 3-14, 2018.