Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced that Zohr gas field has hit record output during the last fiscal year since the start of production in 2017.
Current production from the Eni-operated gas field jumped to 2.7 Bcm/d, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
The ministry also noted that the volume of investments in the gas field hit $741 million during the same period. Investments have exceeded $12 billion since the beginning of work in the field, it added.
Tarek El Molla, Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, said that there are good opportunities in search and explorations in land and sea sites in order to up petroleum and oil reserves and production.
Between 2015 and 2019, Egypt was a net importer of gas through LNG as supply failed to keep pace with demand.
The country gained net exporter status, largely due to the discovery of offshore natural gasfield Zohr in 2015, which was brought on stream in December 2017 and is considered the largest field in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
Zohr was estimated to hold 850 Bcm of gas in August 2015 by Italian energy company Eni.
Fitch Solutions noted that 2022 will be a “peak year for gas production in Egypt” in its recent Egypt Oil & Gas Report.
It expects the country’s natural gas output to increase at a year-on-year rate of 3% to 72.7 Bcm on the back of some new upstream developments, improved contractual terms for some producers and announcements from some players on increased spending and higher output guidance in this country.