Italian Eni stated that it increased gas production from its Egyptian Nooros field, as output has currently reached 900mcf/d. The company further plans to boost production to 1bcf/d during the first quarter of 2017, reported Reuters.

The Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, stated that Egypt’s domestic gas production is currently about 4.35bcf/d compared with consumption of around 5.2b. This comes as  Egypt aims to speeding up the development of major gas discoveries with a goal of achieving self-sufficiency in the energy field by 2020, informed Amwal Al Ghad.

Eni began production at its Nile Delta offshore field Nooros in September 2015. It said previously that it expected peak production capacity of about 160,000 barrels of oil equivalent, about 928mcf/d, in the spring of 2017. Furthermore, Eni’s giant Mediterranean gas field Zohr, discovered in August 2015 with an estimated 30Tcf of gas, is expected to come online next year and produce about 1bcf/d of gas in 2017.

In related news, the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has paid EGP 1b to Italian Eni, as part of the outstanding dues for for the company’s equity production. An official with Eni stated that the company received part of its money in EGP and used it in paying for local contractors.The Egyptian government paid the EGP 1b at the beginning of November before the EGP devaluation along with paying several amounts in EGP  to other oil and gas companies.