Petroleum Minister Tarek al-Molla made recent declarations to the effect that Egypt is targeting the production of 2.7 billion cubic feet of gas per day from the Zohr gas field by 2019. “This,” he explained, “is equivalent to half the country’s current gas production.” The Zohr gas field will be connected to the national gas grid before the end of 2017, he said.
Zohr, discovered by Italian energy giant Eni in August 2015, is the largest gas field in the Mediterranean with an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.
According to Molla, it is expected that Egypt reaches gas self-sufficiency by the end of 2018. The minister said that the excess gas will go to fulfilling export contracts signed before 2011—the year of the Arab Spring uprising, after which Egyptian gas exports were discontinued—and will additionally be used in petrochemicals production.
Watani International
2 July 2017