Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi inaugurated Zohr giant natural gas field in the attendance of Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, and Eni’s CEO, Claudio Descalzi, as well other Egyptian ministers and leading figures from Eni, BP, and Rosneft, Egypt Oil & Gas reports.

During the inauguration ceremony, El Molla reviewed the development of work at Zohr field since the contract signing in January 2014, and pointed out that commercial discovery with 30 trillion cubic feet (tcf) reserves was announced in Augusts 2015.

Zohr project received the total support of President El Sisi, the minister said, adding that the ministry was continuously following up in coordination with its partners, which led to the completion of the project as fast as possible, according to El Molla.

The petroleum minister explained that Zohr project will benefit the national economy as the initial production will contribute to decreasing imports by 25%, which will save $60 million per month. By the end of 2018, when achieving natural gas self-sufficiency, the country will save $250 million.

Additionally, El Sisi pointed out the importance of the demarcation agreement signed wit Cyrus, which enabled starting exploration and production (E&P) operations and benefiting from the resources, Al Ahram Newspaper reported.

Zohr field faced several challenges, as to timeframe and being located deep below water surface on 190 km distance from the shore, Descalzi said.