The government’s regular monthly payment of accumulated arrears for foreign partners would encourage them to return to produce at the previous high output levels, boosting Egypt’s natural gas supply by 2027, said Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, during the cabinet’s weekly meeting on Wednesday.
The increased production capacity of the Zohr field is another factor Madbouly cited for the expected recovery in production level.
Egypt’s production volume had been low, dropping from more than 6.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) to 4.1 bcf/d over the last two to three years, said the Prime Minister.
“Citizens should understand that production fields are not permanent, as all fields have a certain volume. What we can do is to ensure the stability and increase the production rates. This requires pumping in new investments and making discoveries. Based on that, the volume of domestic production will either remain stable or increase,” he added.
Egypt has been receiving requests from international and local companies that would like to establish new factories in different economic sectors that require gas, according to the PM, who added that “The government is taking all of this into consideration and has a complete vision for Egypt’s gas production capacity for the next five years,” Madbouly said.
“In a previous meeting, I mentioned that we will use the regasification vessels temporarily. This is because the need for these types of vessels will begin to decline as our local production increases,” he said.
Earlier this month, Egypt extended a deal it signed with Israel in 2019 to import gas for re-exporting it to Europe. The extended deal would see Egypt getting Israeli gas till 2040, both to cover local demand and to be exported. Meanwhile, Egypt had sealed agreements with Cyprus to import Cypriot natural gas to meet local demand and re-export gas starting 2027.
Moreover, the Prime Minister noted that Egypt is a regional energy hub with a reliable infrastructure, including the liquefaction plants in Idku and Damietta.
