Egypt plans to return to normal oil and gas production by 2025, says PM

In a Thursday press conference, the Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced that Egypt will return to normal oil and gas production levels by 2025.

After a series of recent discoveries including the huge offshore Zohr gas field estimated to contain 30 trillion cubic foot of gas, the North African nation had aimed at becoming a regional hub of liquefied gas.

The scarcity of foreign currencies led to a build-up of arrears, which ended up stifling the hopes of the country.

Madbouly stated that there was a plan in place to increase the production of natural gas and oil with foreign partners and return it to its previous level.

In March, the government announced that it had begun paying dues to foreign companies who worked on petroleum projects within the country.

The government announced that a payment plan has been started for 20% of arrears.

Egypt's power grid was forced to reduce its load during the summer to maintain its functionality. It claimed that it would need to import natural gas worth $1.18 billion and mazut oil worth around $800 million to stop long-term electricity outages.

Most of the electricity generated in the country is produced by burning natural gas.

According to Egypt's state news agency, the petroleum ministry reported that in July gas production reached 5.7 billion cubic foot per day.

In July, the ministry signed agreements with two international companies to invest $340 millions to boost oil production in the Mediterranean Sea and Gulf of Suez. (Reporting and editing by Jason Neely, Christina Fincher and Christina Fincher; Tala Ramadan and Nayera Abdallah)

(source: Reuters)