ZOHR natural gas field has started production, ending the year on a happy note. The government announced mid-December that the huge Zohr natural gas field was operational with initial production of 350 million cubic feet per day. Daily output is expected to increase to a billion cubic feet in June 2018 and 2.7 billion by the end of 2019. Located in the deep waters of the Mediterranean, the natural gas field was discovered in 2015. Located 190km north of Port Said, Zohr is operated by Italian Eni, Russia's state-owned producer Rosneft PJSC and British Petroleum. With the 30 trillion cubic feet of reserves, the field is expected to render Egypt self-sufficient in natural gas by the second half of 2018. This discovery will cut the import bill by $60 million monthly, which is expected to triple in 2018 to $180 million monthly and $2 billion annually of the import bill.
