According to a report issued by the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), Vice Chairman for Planning and Gas Projects, Gamal Hegazy, stated that the total gas aggregation for homes in the fiscal year (FY) 2015/2016 in 25 governorates in the country reached 715,000 housing units, out of which 130,000 housing units were in Upper Egypt, compared to 710,000 housing units last year. The total investment amounted to EGP 1.5b, Egypt Oil&Gas reported based on a press release issued by the oil ministry.

The EGAS report delivered to the oil ministry added that the number of companies which have done work on delivering gas to homes reached 14 companies, out of which 6 companies are affiliated to the oil sector and have executed roughly 64% of the total operations, and the remaining 8 companies, affiliated to the private sector, implemented 36%.

The report stated further that natural gas was delivered to 34 cities and villages for the first time and at the highest rate since the start of the activity in 1981. Among the villages are Meit Hebeish, Gharbeya, Al Khosous, Qalyubia, East of Luxor, Luxor, Abnub, Assiut, East of Qena, Qena, and Madinaty, Cairo. The total number of housing units which have received natural gas since the start of the activity have thus reached 7.6 million housing units.

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla stated that the national project for delivering natural gas to homes is one of the strategic projects. It is the main pillar of the government’s program to improve the level of services offered to citizens. The project is one of the significant solutions for the rationalization of fuel subsidies as it alleviates the financial burden on the state budget through subsidizing butane gas cylinders.