Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum has announced that it has plans to add 17 natural gas wells to the production grid to boost daily production by nearly 283mn cubic metres
Sherif Ismail, petroleum minister of Egypt, said that the drilling is expected to begin in September 2014 and would cost US$2.4bn.
According to industry sources, Egypt has been facing a severe energy crisis for the past three years and has been experiencing frequent blackouts. Growing fuel subsidies and low gas production are responsible for this energy shortage, sources added.
For the upcoming fiscal year 2014-15, the Petroleum Ministry forecasts natural gas production to increase 1.7 per cent to reach 153mn cubic metres per day.
Consumption of gas is expected to increase 12.5 per cent to amount to 157mn cubic metres per day for the same period.
According to data presented by Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC), natural gas production fell by more than 13 per cent in March 2014 to nine mn cubic metres compared to last year. The report added that local consumption of natural gas fell 3.6 per cent to reach 8.7mn cubic metres.
Ismail told Reuters earlier that two new natural gas fields, apart from the planned 17 wells, would begin production in June and August 2014 to support the national grid.
