Royal Dutch Shell has exported three liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargos through its EDCO plant for liquefaction since September 2016, after obtaining 200mcf/d of gas from production at the Burullus fields, reported Daily News Egypt.

Furthermore, the company has agreed with the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources to start gradually increasing its LNG exports from its the liquefaction plant to 250mcf/d in order to help the company repay loan installments, reported Al Borsa. EDCO plant pays banks around $200m in annual installment, to settle a $2b loan that was obtained by the company to implement liquefaction units. Furthermore, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) had paid off $480m of EDCO’s outstanding dues to the bank before stopping operations at full capacity in 2012.

A senior source with the petroleum sector stated that according to EDCO’s current supply rates, Shell plans to export LNG shipments every 20 days. He added that EDCO is required to export 22 LNG shipment per year, in order to reach a balance between its revenues and expenditures.