In an announcement about its important milestones from July 2014 to June 2022, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources stated that Egypt’s total production of petroleum throughout the past eight years amounted to an estimated 597 million tons.
This figure includes 245 million tons of crude oil and condensates, about 342 million tons of natural gas, and 10 million tons of butane, excluding butane produced by refineries and joint-stock companies.
Egypt’s production of natural gas has risen to unprecedented rates, as it rose to its highest levels as one of the fruits of the petroleum sector’s plans. These plans were made to accelerate the development of the discovered fields and put them in production. They were pivotal in gradually increasing output, as production rates of natural gas reached about 6.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) during the current year.
Accordingly, self-sufficiency in locally produced natural gas was achieved by the end of September 2018. This led to the suspension of importing liquefied natural gas (LNG), thus rationalizing the use of foreign exchange destined for import, and reducing the import bill, which constitutes a burden on the state’s general budget.
After achieving self-sufficiency in September 2018 and resuming exports, Egypt turned from being the largest importer of liquefied gas between the years 2015-2017 to being an exporter. Its success supported its position as a major player in the gas sector, as it ranked second in North Africa and the Middle East in the production of natural gas, and the fourteenth globally in natural gas production in 2020, after it was ranked eighteenth in the world in 2015.
The highest production rate of petroleum in the history of Egypt was achieved in August 2019, reaching about 1.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) of crude oil, gas and condensates.