Zohr continues to rise for Egypt - ENERGY VOICE

Tarek El-Molla visiting Zohr's onshore facilities 

16/DEC/2019, 9:09 am

Egypt’s Zohr field is producing at around 3 billion cubic feet (85 million cubic metres) per day, the country’s Ministry of Petroleum has said.

The production rate was disclosed during a visit to onshore facilities linked to the asset by Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Tarek El Molla, leading a parliamentary delegation. The statement from the ministry noted that Zohr, and other fields in the Mediterranean, had allowed Egypt to become once more self sufficient and return to exports.

El Molla had drawn attention to various stresses on the sector, including steadily increasing domestic demand and the need to develop infrastructure. Success had been driven by the ministry’s strategy, he continued, which had focused on drawing in more investment to the sector to bolster new reserves, while also supporting the development of discovered fields and domestic consumption in the use of gas, rather than oil products.

Egypt’s target for natgas production increases to 7.95 bcf/d in 2019-20 - ENTERPRISE

Tuesday, 21 May 2019

The government has raised its target for natural gas production to 7.95 bcf/d during FY2019-2020, up from 7.5 bcf/d in the current plan, an industry source told the press.

Linking the second development phase of wells at the North Alexandria field, as well as an expected increase in production from the Zohr field, will offset the annual 10% fall in production due to field maturation. 

The ministry is also planning to complete 11 natgas projects by 2023 at a combined investment value of USD 18 bn to increase production by some 2 bcf/d.

Egypt- Idku liquefaction plant to work at full export capacity by June: El-Molla - MENAFN / DAILY NEWS EGYPT

March/17/2019 3:20:51 AM 

(MENAFN - Daily News Egypt) Egypt's Ministry of Petroleum aims to increase the amount of gas exported of Idku gas liquefaction plant to 1.13bn cubic feet of gas per day (scf/day) by June, up from the current 800m scf/day, the Minister of Petroleum, Tarek El-Molla, told Daily News Egypt on Saturday.

The plant, operated by Royal Dutch Shell, is to operate at full capacity, following the linkage of gas production from Eastern Mediterranean fields, and achieve self-sufficiency, according to El-Molla. Ownership of the Idku plant is divided among Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) with 12%, Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) with 12%, Shell with 35.5%, Petronas with 35.5%, and Gaz de France with 5% stake.

El-Molla explained that Egypt is on the right track toward becoming a regional gas hub, exporting the surplus of natural gas production, giving a priority to electricity consumption, followed by factories, houses, and cars, respectively. In case of a surplus, the amount will be exported to international markets through the Idku plant and the Jordan gas pipeline.The contractual rate of Idku plant is 1.13bn scf/day. These rates have decreased since 2011 until it was finally stopped at the beginning of 2015.

Egypt’s gas exports from Idku jumps to 800MCF/day - EGYPT TODAY

Wed, Feb. 27, 2019

CAIRO – 27 February 2019: Egypt’s natural gas exports from Idku plant rose to currently 800 million cubic feet of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per day up from about 250 million cubic feet per day in early January and 300 million cubic feet per day in 2018.

Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum Tarek el-Molla clarified to a local newspaper that LNG exports from Idku rose, so Egypt strongly returned to international markets after achieving self-sufficiency.

Molla added that Egypt has taken steps to become a regional hub for energy trading, including exporting liquefied gas from Idku export plant or supplying quantities of gas to Jordan to meet part of its needs.

He elaborated that the amount of gas directed to exports gradually increased because the local consumption lessened during the winter session and the production rate increased, meeting the needs of the industrial sector, power plants, cars and houses.

Petroleum Minister Molla referred to his ministry’s plan to link wells of Zohr, North Alexandria and Burullus to contribute in increasing the local production and covering the consumption rates, and to operating liquefaction plants, besides the gas coming from Cyprus and Israel.

Egypt to accelerate Zohr gas field development, to be completed one year ahead of schedule - ENERGY EGYPT / AHRAM ONLINE / ENTERPRISE

February 4, 2018

Egypt to complete development on Zohr one year ahead of schedule: Egypt will complete the development of the Zohr gasfield at the beginning of 2019, instead of the end of the year, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla said on Thursday, according to Reuters. Egypt had been speeding up the development of the giant gasfield, with early phase production commencing ahead of schedule last December. Speedy development of the field had helped Egypt move forward its plans to cut imports of LNG from late 2018 to July.

5 projects achieve natural gas self-sufficiency for Egypt in 2018 - DAILY NEWS EGYPT

January 29, 2018

The Ministry of Petroleum aims to increase its production of natural gas by working to make five gas projects operational, on top of which comes the completion of Zohr gas field’s first phase and beginning the second phase of the Northern Alexandria West Delta deep field.

The ministry plans to complete the first phase of Zohr development project in the deep waters of the Mediterranean in June, and for production to gradually reach over 1bn cubic feet of gas per day, up by some 700m cubic feet per day now, after announcing early production from the well.

The giant Zohr field is among the most important discoveries achieved by the petroleum sector in recent years. The find was made by the Italian company Eni in August 2015, with reserves of some 40tn cubic feet of gas. It is expected to help Egypt surpass its sharp gap in energy supplies. The first phase of the project costs about $5bn.

Egypt's Zohr: Towards self-sufficiency in gas? - AHRAM ONLINE

Friday 5 Jan 2018
Amany Ismail

Egypt’s Zohr Field, the largest offshore natural gas field in the Mediterranean, started production on 16 December. It could prove to be a permanent remedy to Egypt’s power needs and bring it closer to the goal of self-sufficiency in the energy sector in 2018.

Egypt's Zohr gas field to yield 350 mln cubic feet daily by end-2017 -ministry - REUTERS

DECEMBER 1, 2017 / 2:39 PM

Reporting by Ehab Farouk, writing by John Davison; editing by Susan Fenton

CAIRO, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Egypt’s giant new offshore Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean is set to begin production by year-end and would initially yield 350 million cubic feet per day, the petroleum ministry said on Friday.

Production would increase to around 1 billion cubic feet per day by mid-2018, it said.

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said in September Zohr was set to produce 500 million cubic feet per day by the end of 2017.

The Zohr field was discovered in 2015 by Italy’s Eni with an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Egypt’s own natural gas output rose to about 5.1 billion cubic feet per day in 2017 from 4.4 billion cubic feet in 2016 with the start of production from the first phase of BP’s North Alexandria project.

The country has been seeking to speed up production from recently discovered fields, with an eye to halting imports by 2019 and achieving self-sufficiency.

USD 27.3 bn to be invested in gas fields, USD 15.5 bn worth of exploration agreements to be signed next year - ENTERPRISE

Wednesday, 25 October 2017

USD 27.3 bn to be invested in gas fields next year: Some 230 new wells will be drilled at a cost of USD 2 bn in 2018, while approximately USD 27.3 bn will be invested in the Zohr, North Alexandria, and Nooros fields, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla said yesterday, Al Shorouk reports. 

El Molla also forecasts signing 83 new exploration agreements worth a total of USD 15.5 bn, in addition to USD 3.8 bn worth of new petroleum refining projects. 

Natural gas projects are expected to increase 50% in 2018, with that rate accelerating to 100% by 2020, El Molla said. The minister also announced that the second edition of the Egypt Petroleum Show will kick off on 12 February 2018 to showcase short- and long-term plans in the oil and gas sector.

Egypt's Zohr gas field to yield 500 mln cubic feet daily by end-2017 - REUTERS AFRICA

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017 / 4:32 PM
Reuters Staff

CAIRO, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Egypt’s giant new offshore Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean is set to be producing 500 million cubic feet per day by the end of 2017, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said on Saturday.

The country imports peak at 10-12 shipments of natural gas per month, Ismail told reporters at the General Authority For Investment, adding that imports should decline significantly once the field starts producing.

Discovered in 2015 by Italy’s Eni with an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, the Zohr field is due to start producing in December.

Egypt Rushes Maritime Negotiations, Making Way For Offshore Discoveries - HART ENERGY

Wednesday, August 2, 2017 - 1:36pm
Abdelghani Henni

Egypt is speeding up negotiations with neighboring countries to finalize the demarcation of borders in the Mediterranean, which holds huge natural gas reserves compared to the Red Sea.

The country has initiated talks with Greece to draw the maritime border, according to local sources. Egypt and Cyprus are also expected to sign the official border agreement in the next few weeks. In addition, the country plans to intensify seismic activities in the Red Sea following the agreement with Saudi Arabia.

In early June, Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla said the Ganoub El Wadi Petroleum Holding Co. agreed with five international oil companies six months ago to conduct a $750 million seismic survey in the Red Sea to prepare reports on the reserves of oil and gas in the territorial waters after the demarcation of the border with Saudi Arabia.

UPDATE 1-Egypt sets sights on doubling natural gas output by 2020 - REUTERS

JULY 17, 2017 / 12:22 PMReporting by Ehab Farouk; Writing by Amina Ismail; editing by Patrick Markey and Adrian Croft

CAIRO, July 17 (Reuters) - Three recently discovered major gas fields are expected to raise Egypt's natural gas output by 50 percent in 2018 and 100 percent in 2020, the petroleum ministry said.

"The fields of Zohr, North Alexandria and Nooros are among the most important projects that will increase natural gas production ... and will contribute to (Egypt’s) natural gas self-sufficiency by the end of 2018," Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said in a statement, which set out the production forecasts.

Egypt's natural gas production rose to about 5.1 billion cubic feet per day in 2017 from 4.4 billion cubic feet in 2016 with the start of production from the first phase of BP's North Alexandria project.

Egypt to export gas in H2 of 2019: EGAS chairperson - DAILY NEWS EGYPT

Saturday February 4, 2017Mohamed Farag 

100 million cubic feet of gas allocated to run Siemens power plants

Chairperson of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) Mohamed El Masry said that Egypt is set to begin exporting natural gas in the second half (H2) of 2019.

He added that Egypt is on track to achieve self-sufficiency through the discovery of the Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean waters.

He pointed out that warning letters have been sent to factories to pay their arrears based on the scheduling scheme approved by the EGAS, especially since part of the arrears have been dropped.

He noted that all factories receive 100% of their gas needs.

Zohr, Atul, North Alexandria fields to start production this year: Petroleum Ministry - DAILY NEWS EGYPT

Monday January 16, 2017
Mohamed Ayyad

$834m of investments over FY 2016/2017 to intensify exploration and drilling activities, says Atef Hassan
Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla said on Monday that the gas fields of Zohr, Atul (Atoll), and North Alexandria will start the first phase of production this year.

El-Molla added in a statement that starting production in these fields will have a positive impact on increasing the production of gas and reducing the gap between production and domestic consumption in Egypt.

Egypt imports petroleum products worth about $700m per month, at a time when the country is suffering from the scarcity of hard currency.

Egypt- Petroleum Ministry implements 11 development projects with investments of $17.5bn - MENAFN / DAILY NEWS EGYPT

08/01/2017 

The Ministry of Petroleum plans to implement 11 projects to develop gas fields in cooperation with foreign partners. Investments in these projects are expected to total 17.5bn. They aim to offset the natural decay rate in the productivity of fields and increase production rates.

A source at the Ministry of Petroleum told Daily News Egypt that the projects are expected to produce 1.9 billion feet of gas per day and 50,000 barrels of condensate.

The source added that the ministry is in negotiations with foreign partners to speed up the implementation of projects to offset the natural decay rate and to achieve self-sufficiency of gas in Egypt by the end of 2019.

Egypt to boost natural gas grid by 2017-minister - AMWAL AL GHAD / REUTERS

1 January, 2017
Mahmoud Shaaban

Egypt's production of natural gas is expected to witness a leap in 2017 as pursuant to state's plans for adding production of discovered fields to the national grid, Oil Minister stated Saturday.

Tarek El-Molla said that the first phase of Zohr gas field is set to add more than one billion cubic feet of gas daily before the end of 2017.

The ministry targets covering local market's needs of natural gas through adding the production of the newly-discovered fields to the national grid, the minister clarified.

Speaking about the future of Egyptian petroleum sector, El-Molla added that around 500 million ft3/day of gas would be added to the national grid before the middle of 2017 from North Alexandria filed.

Egypt chases own energy sources as government struggle to meet demand - REUTERS

Sun Oct 23, 2016 | 10:43am EDTWriting by Eric Knecht, Editing by Lin Noueihed/Ruth Pitchford

By Ehab Farouk | CAIRO

Egypt will boost production of natural gas to 5 billion cubic feet per day in the 2017-2018 fiscal year as the giant Zohr field comes online, but will still also ramp up gas imports to feed a spike in consumption, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla said.

Once an energy exporter, Egypt has turned into a net importer in recent years, squeezed by declining production and increasing consumption. The shortfall and squeezed finances have forced the government to ration gas supplies to industry, with some plants unable to operate at full capacity as a result.

Egypt's Oil Ministry is racing to reverse that trend, speeding up the development of major gas discoveries with a stated goal of achieving energy self-sufficiency by 2020-21.

BP acquires Shell’s Rosetta gas plant for $128 m - ARAB FINANCE / DAILY NEWS EGYPT

Tuesday 09/27/2016 12:29:00 PM

Cairo: BP acquired Shell’s Rosetta gas treatment plant in Rashid for $128m and received it in April. The plant will be prepared to be linked to the production of Giza and Fayoum gas fields in northern Alexandria.

A senior source in the petroleum sector told Daily News Egypt that the maximum capacity of the Rosetta plant amounts to 425m cubic feet of gas per day, adding that 420m cubic feet produced from Giza and Fayoum fields will be linked to the station in 2019.

He added that Royal Dutch Shell has transferred production of the Rosetta field in the Rashid concession area to the Borollos plant, after selling the Rosetta plant to BP.

Egypt to develop 5 new Oil and Gas fields from Q3 of 2017 to 2019 - ECOFIN AGENCY

Monday, 27 June 2016 - 07:32

(Ecofin Agency) - The Government of Egypt has put measures in place to commence the development of five new oil and gas fields from Q3 of 2017 till 2019.

The five fields are Taurus, Libra, Giza, Fayoum, and Raven, an official source revealed.

According to this source, the Q3 of 2017 will also see BP restarting all the production and developmental activities in the North Alexandria oil field, which has been stagnant since 2011 as a result of Egypt’s political and economic situations.

After gas discovery, Egypt aims for energy self-sufficiency by 2022 | Albawaba Business

November 17, 2015

Egypt's two newly discovered oil fields, Zohr and North Alexandria, which will start production in 2017, will help make Egypt a regional center for energy and gas, Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tareq el Molla said.

Egypt hopes to achieve self-sufficiency in the period between 2020 and 2022 and to decline imports and become a regional energy center, Molla told MENA correspondent here prior to his departure.

The "Zohr" field will start production in the end of 2017 from 700 million to 1,000 million cubic feet daily to rise to 2,700 cubic feet daily in 2019, the minister said.

Egypt imports liquefied natural gas to fill its shortage over the past two years, he said, adding that factories that have stopped production due to gas shortage started operation, including fertilizer, steel and petrochemical plants.

Another field was discovered in northern Alexandria and will start production in mid 2017 with 450 million cubic feet daily to reach 1.2 billion cubic feet daily in 2019, he added.