The ministry of petroleum and mineral resources aims to pump about 6.39bn scf/day, the average consumption of the domestic market, including electricity, factories, houses, and cars during the current fiscal year (FY).
A source in the oil sector told Daily News Egypt that the surplus of the domestic consumption will be directed toward export through the liquefaction plants in Idku and Damietta, along with the Jordan line in case Amman needs more gas.
He pointed to the average surplus of gas after meeting the needs of the local market estimated at 1.56bn scf/day, after the increase of Egypt’s production of natural gas to about 7.95bn scf/day during the current FY, by linking the second phase of the North Alexandria project and the Zohr field production increase.
He added that the average consumption of natural gas in the domestic market is growing annually, according to the industrial and construction development plan and with the increase in the number of cars operating with natural gas.
The projects under implementation will add about 1.15bn scf/day of gas to the current production of 6.8bn scf/day, with a natural reduction rate of about 10% per year of the current total production, the source said.
He pointed out that the production of Zohr in the second stage development will grow to 2.95bn scf/day, instead of the current 2.3bn scf/day.
The source added that the ministry of petroleum and mineral resources is seeking to accelerate the completion of the next stages of projects under implementation in Zohr, North Alexandria, and 9B to accelerate the linking of the entire production projects to compensate for the rate of decline and increase production rates.
In addition to the development of 11 gas projects in various concession areas until 2023, investments estimated at $18bn to compensate for the rates of natural decline and increase production by about 2bn scf/day according to the results of research and exploration.
The average consumption of the domestic gas market will rise to about 9bn scf/day by 2020/21, according to the industrial development plan, increase the production capacity of electricity, and the delivery of gas to homes and convert more cars to work with gas instead of petroleum.
The ministry aims to increase the productivity of the existing gas fields, complete the development of the discovered gas fields, and accelerate the pace of work in order to put them on the production map, thus contributing to compensating for the natural decline in the productivity of the old fields.
