In a press release to Egypt Oil&Gas the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, stated that 2017 will witness a quantum leap in Egypt’s natural gas production as the country is moving forward in strategies to improve gas fields and linking them to the national grid in order to cover local market’s demands.

The minister added that Egypt plans to add 1bcf/d of gas from Zohr field before the end of 2017, as well as adding 500mcf/d from North Alexandria fields before mid-2017. Additionally, El Molla pointed out that the production of Nooros field reached 870mcf/d of gas and it is expected to increase after adding new wells.

This will decrease imports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and save foreign currency, as Egypt will save around $280m per month after adding 1.5bcf/d of gas as Egypt currently imports 1.2bcf/d for $250m per month.

El Molla stated that Egypt has plans to achieve natural gas self-sufficiency by 2020/2021 However, as the fields’ development plans are rapidly progressing, Egypt may achieve its gas self-sufficiency goal by the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019. Moreover, the minister explained that Egypt launched strategy to become a regional energy hub. Accordingly a new committee consisting of different ministries has been formed to work on achieving this vision.