Egypt’s natural gas production will increase to 8 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) by 2021, up 29% from 6.2 bcf/d currently, an official source at the Ministry of Petroleum told Al Borsa.

The ministry is working with companies to introduce a program to preserve current oil and condensates production rates until 2021, while compensating for the natural decline of some of the country’s oil fields.

Crude oil production has increased by 4.3% to reach 657,000 barrels per day (b/d) compared to 630,000 b/d a year ago, the source said, adding however that the country’s crude reserves have shrunk by 25% to 3 billion barrels (bb), compared to 4 bb in 2015.