The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources asked the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to provide $270m per month to import 1.4bcf/d of gas starting from June, reported Al Borsa.  The ministry plans to receive 1.2bcf/d of gas through the two Floating Storage Regasification Units (FSRUs) docked at Ain Sokhna and 200mcf/d from the Jordanian line.

This came as a source at the Ministry of Petroleum stated that the cancellation of tender for a third FSRU saved $120m per month that Egypt would have paid in renting fees, as well as cargos. The source added that the Egyptian oil and gas sector had made a number of discoveries recently, which are linked to production. These discoveries include the Nooros field which produces 850mcf/d and is expected to boost production to be 1bcf/d during 2017.

Additionally, Italian Eni plans to start Zohr production and add around 900mcf/d of gas to the national grid by the end of 2017 or within the first quarter of 2018. Eni aims to boost production from Zohr to 2.7bcf/d of gas by 2020.

Zohr field’s total investments are estimated at $12b until production begins and will increase to $16b during the life of the project. The first phase is expected to begin at the end of 2018 and the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.