Egypt’s energy woes [Gas in Transition]
Egypt’s energy woes [Gas in Transition]
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Natural Gas News
Egypt’s energy woes [Gas in Transition]
Summary
Continuing problems challenge Egypt’s ambition to become a major regional energy hub. They also undermine the country’s ability to maintain, let alone increase, LNG exports to Europe, as envisaged by the MoU it signed with the EU and Israel in June last year. [Gas in Transition, Volume 3, Issue 8] by: Charles Ellinas
Egypt’s natural gas production has declined dramatically from the highs attained in 2021, at just over 7bn ft3/d, to 5.88bn ft3/d during Q2 2023 – a 17% reduction in 3 years – and it is still declining. According to MEES, this is largely due to water infiltration problems at the giant Zohr gas field, where production has plummeted from a high of 2.76bn ft3/d in 2021 to 2.3bn ft3/d now, about 23% below the field’s production capacity of 3.2bn ft3/d. And it is not just Zohr. The problem is exacerbated by declining output from the Western Desert, West Delta Deep Marine (WDDM) and onshore fields in the Nile Delta. It is also due to the fact that no significant new discoveries have been made since that of Zohr in 2015, other than the modest discovery of the 3.5-trillion ft3 Nargis gas field north of Sinai, announced by Eni and Chevron in January this year – with development expected to start next year. As a result, natural depletion of Egypt’s gas resources due to annual consumption and export is not being replaced, contributing to a steady decline in output. This trend comes as demand continues to rise as Egypt’s popula...
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