The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) estimated the natural reduction of gas production in the different concession areas at 70m cubic feet (scf) per month during the current fiscal year (FY) 2019/20, and is compensated by linking new wells to production. A source at EGAS told Daily News Egypt that Egypt's natural gas production will rise to about 7bn scf/day by the end of this year, compared to 6.8bn scf/day currently, thanks to the rise of production of Zohr and North Alexandria projects. He added that the current gas projects will add about 1.15bn scf/day during the current fiscal year to the current 6.8bn scf/day, while compensating for a natural decline rate of about 10% annually. He pointed out that the production of the second phase of Zohr reached about 2.7bn scf/day, instead of 2.3bn scf/day. The source added that the Ministry of Petroleum is seeking to accelerate the completion of the next phases of the projects under implementation, including Zohr, North Alexandria, and 9B to link their production and compensate the decline. In addition, the ministry is working on the development of 11 gas projects in different concession areas until 2023, with an estimated investment of $18bn to compensate for the rates of natural decline and increase production by about 2bn scf/day, according to the results of research and exploration. The source added that the rate of consumption of natural gas in the domestic market is growing annually, according to the industrial and urban development plan and with the increase in the number of cars running on natural gas. The average gas consumption of the domestic market will rise to about 9bn scf/day by FY 2020/21, according to the industrial development plan and the expand in gas delivery to homes and the conversion of more cars to run on gas. The Ministry of Petroleum aims to increase the productivity of existing gas fields and complete the development of the discovered ones in order to put them on the production map, which would compensate for the natural decline.
