Egypt’s gas production reaches 5.4B cfd in February 2018

CAIRO – 17 March 2018: Egypt’s gas production reached around 5.4 billion cubic feet a day (cfd) in February 2018, an official source in the petroleum sector said Saturday.

Petroleum Minister Tarek el-Molla said in previous statements that Egypt increased its gas production by some 1.6 cubic feet a day in the last year 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.

The source said that two new wells in Egypt’s giant Zohr gas field are expected to start production in the second half of April, bringing production from the field to 700 million cubic feet a day.

He added that the Fayoum and Giza gas fields, located within the North Alexandria and West Mediterranean Deepwater concessions in the Mediterranean Sea, are expected to start production before the end of 2018, with a daily output of 500-700 million cubic feet a day.

In February, Deputy Chairman of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) for production and fields’ development Mohamed Abdel Azim said that Egypt’s natural gas production will reach some six billion cubic feet a day by the end of fiscal year 2017/18.

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 6 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.

Egypt plans to stop importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) by the end of the 2017/18 fiscal year ending in June as it accelerates production at a number of newly-discovered gas fields, Molla said in January.