Italian Eni will start commercial production of the 14th well in the Mediterranean’s Zohr gas field next week, bringing the total production capacity of the project to about 2.3bn cubic feet per day (scf/day).
Eni had completed the implementation of the Zohr deep-water development ahead of schedule, which contributed to increasing gas reserves locally, surpassing market needs, a source at the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) told Daily News Egypt.
The gas consumption of the electricity sector represents 61% of the total consumption in Egypt, while other sectors, including industry, household, fuel, and others, get 39%.
The source added that the production of the field was reduced to about 2.5bn scf/day, due to low consumption and export.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Petroleum meets the full needs of electricity, factories, cars, and homes of natural gas, so it does not need more gas quantities in the current period, in light of the decline in gas consumption of power stations by about 1.2bn scf/day.
The source pointed out that the average production of each well in Zohr field ranges between 150-250m scf/day.
About 58% of gas production in Egypt is obtained from deep-water fields in the Mediterranean, equivalent to about 4bn scf/day in the past fiscal year (FY) 2018/19.
He said that the concession areas of natural gas in the Delta account for 20% of production locally, equivalent of 1.38bn scf/day, according to reports of production rates in FY 2018/19.
The production capacity of the gas fields in the concession areas of the Western Sahara was 1.38bn scf/ day, equivalent to 20% of the total domestic production.
The source added that 2% of Egyptian gas production is obtained from the fields of the Gulf of Suez, Sinai, and the Eastern Desert.
