The new production capacity at Shell's West Nile Delta field 9B is expected to reach 350-400m standard cubic feet per day (scf/day) by 2019, an Egyptian Petroleum Ministry official told Reuters on Monday. On the other hand, the Petroleum Ministry issued a statement indicating that the production from the first three wells in the field, which is owned by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), Malaysia's Petronas, and Shell, is scheduled to start in fiscal year 2018/19. Earlier in March, the development well Nidoco NW7 in Nooros gas field began production at 90m scf/day, increasing the field's total production to 1.15bn scf/day. In February, Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla stated that around 1.6bn scf/day of natural gas were added to Egypt's production, increasing the country's total natural gas production to 5.5bn scf/day, which is expected to reach 6bn scf/day before the end of 2018.
