GASCO to transport gas from Raven field to Western Desert Gas Complex

CAIRO – 13 March 2018: The Egyptian Natural Gas Company (GASCO) is planning to transport gas from the Raven field in the North Alexandria Concession to the Western Desert Gas Complex, according to a company’s statement.

Petroleum Minister Tarek el-Molla said that projects are currently being implemented to upgrade and develop the national gas grid to meet the growing demand and cope with the changes in the gas industry in Egypt.

He said that the grid also plays a pivotal role in transforming Egypt into a regional energy hub.

This came during a meeting chaired by Molla to approve the 2017 results of GASCO.
Molla called on the fair distribution of the grid in southern Egypt to meet Upper Egypt’s demand in the coming period.

During the meeting, GASCO head Hisham Radwan said that the company distributed 58 billion cubic feet of gas to different sectors in the local market in addition to adding 14 new customers, bringing the total company’s customers to 527 by the end on 2017.

Concerning the development of the natural gas grid, Radwan said that his company completed the projects needed for the test operation for the three Siemens power plants.

Radwan added that the company has connected gas to a number of industrial areas, adding that production from the Western Desert Gas Complex and LPG plant in AL-Amreya helped in providing the market with 605,000 tons of LPG and providing the petrochemicals industry with one million tons of ethylene and polyethylene mix.

Egypt is seeking to boost its natural gas production through a number of projects.
Egypt’s production of natural gas increased in December 2017 to reach 3.4 million tons, up from 2.7 million tons in December 2016, an official source in the petroleum sector said recently.

The increased production came on the back of starting production from four main fields, including West Delta’s Taurus and Libra fields as well as Atoll and Zohr gas fields.

Egypt’s gas production currently stands at 5.5 billion cubic feet a day, after adding some 1.6 million cubic feet as a result of starting production from the aforementioned projects.

The country's total natural gas consumption is about six billion cubic feet per day, of which roughly 65 percent goes to the electricity sector.

The new discoveries are expected to turn Egypt into a net exporter of natural gas as the country is expected to halt gas imports by mid 2018.