Egypt’s natural gas production rose to its highest level, recording 6.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d), as part of the Petroleum Sector continuous efforts to increase national oil and gas production and reserves, Al-Ahram reported.

Belayim Petroleum Company (Petrobel) announced earlier a new natural gas discovery in the Nile Delta concession area, with an expected production rate of 20 million standard cubic feet per day (mscf/d).

Eng. Atef Hassan, the company’s Chairman, said that natural gas was discovered in the concession during the drilling operations which started last May.

Initial production of 17 mscf/d of gas is likely to exist during the connection of the well to existing production facilities in the area and the gas treatment plant in the Abu Madi fields.

Balaim achieved an oil discovery in the ​​Abordes Sudri concession area in Sinai by drilling the exploration well Sudri 23, and succeeded in reaching the deep layers by forming the pre-Miocene era, which will be added to the drilling of 10 wells with 3,000 barrel of oil equivalent per day (boe/d).

In addition, 165 crude oil and 83 gas discoveries have been achieved over the past five years in the Western and Eastern Sahara, Mediterranean, Sinai, Delta and Gulf of Suez regions.

The total production of petroleum products reached about 160 million tons of crude oil and condensates, about 192 million tons of natural gas, and 6.7 million tons of butane.