Egypt’s oil, gas exports decline by 50% in first 4 months of 2023: CAPMAS

CAIRO - 9 July 2023: Egypt’s oil and gas exports declined by more than 50 percent in the first four months of 2023 year-on-year, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) data released on Thursday.

Earlier this week, CAPMAS reported that Egypt's trade deficit increased by 23.8 percent in April compared to April 2022. This is due to a drop of more than 75 percent in gas exports.

The revenues from natural gas, crude and petroleum products exports accounted to $3.17 billion from January to April 2023. This is a decrease from around $6.6 billion during the same period last year.

The Minister of Petroleum, Tarek El-Molla, predicted that Egypt's revenues from liquefied gas will decrease in line with the decrease in European gas prices during the first half of this year.

"Egypt is planning to dig 35 new exploratory natural gas wells in the Mediterranean and the Nile Delta by 2025 with $1.8 billion in investment," El-Molla said in statements during an interview with Emirates News Agency (WAM) on Tuesday, on the sidelines of his participation in OPEC.

El-Molla participated in the OPEC conference and stated in a media interview that he expects Egypt's liquefied gas revenues to decline by 50 percent this year.