Natural gas production from the Zohr natural gas field will permit the country to cut its imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by approximately $700 million per year, the Head of the Petroleum and Mining Industries Chamber, Hamdy Abdel Aziz, told Amwal Al Ghad.

The natural gas field, which began production this month, is producing around 350 million cubic feet per day (mcf/d)—or approximately three cargoes of LNG per month, according to Abdel Aziz.

The government previously estimated projected savings at $60 million per month—or $720 million per year, Amwal Al Ghad had reported.

Production from the field began on December 16th, Egypt Oil & Gas reported.

Output from Zohr is projected to rise to 1 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) by June 2018 and to 2.7 bcf/d by the end of 2019.