The head of Egypt’s state-owned natural gas holding company (EGAS) said today Tuesday that Egypt’s gas production will remain stable this year at 6.4 billion cubic feet per day, but Egypt has ambitious offshore exploration plans.
“We have a very good and ambitious drilling campaign in 2024 and 2025. We intend to drill about 30 exploration wells, most of them offshore, during the current and next financial year,” EGAS President Magdy Galal said at an energy conference in Cairo.
“So the expected reserves will hopefully be good,” he added. The financial year in Egypt runs from July to June.
Galal also said that Egypt has the capacity to export about 13 million tons per year through its LNG plants, but is expected to export about eight million tons this year, not counting increased gas imports from Israel.
Egypt began importing gas from Israel in 2020, aiming to become a regional energy hub, and has increased exports of gas and Israeli gas in the form of liquefied natural gas.
Last June, Egypt signed a framework agreement with the European Union and Israel to expand gas exports at a time when Europe was rushing to find an alternative to Russian gas.
However, officials and sources in the sector have said that any significant increase in export capacity under the deal with the European Union and Israel will take time.
Yesterday, Monday, Egyptian Oil Minister Tarek El Molla said that LNG production is expected at 7.5 million tons.
Galal noted that two production lines could be added to the Idka LNG plant and three lines to the Damietta plant, bringing the total capacity in Egypt to over 30 million tons.
Adding production lines for the two plants will require a major investment and take several years to complete, industry sources said.
