The Ministry of Petroleum has reduced Egypt's production of natural gas to about 6bn cubic feet per day (scf/day) from 7bn scf/day due to the decline in domestic market consumption and export. A source at the Ministry of Petroleum told Daily News Egypt that the country has achieved a surplus in the production of natural gas from different concession areas, estimated at 1bn scf/day, along with the decline of power plants' gas consumption. He pointed out that the gas consumption of power plants decreased to about 3.7bn scf/day now, compared to 4.5bn scf/day during the summer, due to lower temperatures, which increased the efficiency of production plants and reduced electricity consumption. He pointed out that the new gas projects recently linked to production, such as Zohr, Noras, North Alexandria, 9B, and Baltim South West fields, contributed to the rise of Egypt's gas production at unprecedented rates. The source added that Egypt's natural gas production is expected to increase to 7.5bn scf/day during 2019/20. The source pointed out that the rate of consumption of natural gas in the domestic market is growing annually, according to the industrial and urban development plan along with the increase in the number of cars operating with natural gas. Power plants' gas consumption represents 61% of the total consumption, while the rest is split between industry, household, and automotive sectors. The source said that the rate of domestic gas consumption will rise gradually to 7bn scf/day during the next fiscal year (FY) 2020/21, compared to about 6.2bn scf/day in FY 2019/20. The average gas consumption in the domestic market will rise to about 9bn scf/day by FY 2020/21, according to the industrial development plan. This will also lead to increasing the productive capacity and gas delivery to homes and the conversion of more cars to run on gas instead of petroleum. The plan of the Ministry of Petroleum aims to complete the implementation of the Zohr, North Alexandria, and Burullus fields, to contribute to increase domestic production and cover consumption rates.
