Egypt’s production rate of natural gas increase to nearly 4.3bn cubic feet compared to 4.25bn cubic feet last month.
A senior official in the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) told Daily News Egypt that production rates increased by 50 million cubic feet per day after connecting two wells to production lines from Badr El-Din Petroleum Company (BAPETCO) and Balayem Petroleum Company.
The total production of the two wells reached 83m cubic feet of gas per day that have compensated for the natural decline of fields production.
The official pointed out that production rates decreased by 130 million cubic feet per month, compared to nearly 100 million cubic feet in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014/2015, due to the natural decline of fields’ production.
EGAS has an agreement with a number of foreign companies to import 90 shipments of liquefied gas for two years. The company is currently negotiating to rent another gasification ship to increase the amount of imported gas to nearly EGP 1bn per day.
The accumulated government’s dues to foreign partners resulted in the decline in the production of natural gas because partners delayed the connection of their projects to production lines since 2011, according to the official.
El-Din said the natural gas reserves declared by foreign partners before the 25 January Revolution were exaggerated and contributed to increasing the current crisis.
The government resorted to the liberation of the energy market and allowing the private sector to obtain its own needs of fuel after the average rate of natural gas production declined to 4.35bn cubic feet per day in FY 2015/2016, compared to 6.06bn cubic feet in FY 2009-2010.
He said the annual EGAS report showed that the Mediterranean region produces nearly 66% of total produced gas in Egyptian fields, followed by the Western desert with 25%, the Delta with 7%, and the Suez Gulf and Sinai with only 2%.
