The National: Adipec 2015: Egypt to Triple LNG Imports Despite Huge Gasfield Find

Egypt’s petroleum minister said the country would triple its liquefied natural gas imports over the next two years, despite hopes that new gas finds would turn the tide.

Tarek El Molla said on the sidelines at Adipec that the country would increase its LNG imports from 500,000 cubic feet per day to 1.5 million cu ft per day by 2017.

“First I have to satisfy my market and my needs, and you cannot have blackouts or factories that are closed because of a shortage of gas,” he said.

New offshore gas production had given hopes that the North African country would make a return as a gas exporter, particularly after the discovery of the vast Zohr gasfield announced three months ago. Italy’s Eni said that the prospect housed the possibility for 700 trillion cubic feet, potentially making it one of the world’s largest gasfields and driving “Egypt’s economy for decades”.

Eni said in August that there would be a “fast production start-up” as a result of existing infrastructure.

Mr El Mollo said that the gas was expected to begin trickling on to the market in two years, but there will be a gradual increase to maximum production. He declined to give figures as to when the field might reach peak production. MORE