The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources recently announced the launch of an integrated program to drill 11 new wells. These wells are expected to add approximately 160 billion cubic feet of natural gas, with an additional average daily production of approximately 100 million cubic feet of gas and 2,000 barrels of condensate.

The Ministry stated that it seeks to develop local production in various geographical areas of the country, including the onshore Nile Delta region, to enhance the stability of natural gas supplies to the national grid. The Ministry added that it continues to monitor the implementation of work programs through its subsidiaries to maximize the use of available resources through cooperation with local and international partners.

In this regard, according to sources in Al-Sharq newspaper, the Italian company Eni is seeking to produce approximately 60 million “new” cubic feet of gas per day from the thirteenth well in the deep-water Zohr field in the Mediterranean Sea by August 2025. This represents a boost to the Zohr field’s production, which currently produces 1.38 billion cubic feet of gas per day, compared to 1.5 billion cubic feet per day at the beginning of this year.

The Zohr field is the largest in the Mediterranean, and its production constitutes approximately 35% of Egypt’s current gas production, which averages 4 billion cubic feet per day. This falls short of domestic demand, which stands at approximately 7 billion cubic feet per day, due to the increasing demand for fuel from power plants amid rising temperatures.

The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum is offering several incentives to companies, including setting a timetable for the payment of overdue dues, in addition to reaching agreements with partners willing to sell gas to the Egyptian government at prices that will generate profits for them in the event of export, which may be higher than the agreed-upon prices.

Egypt’s offshore areas are also witnessing increased activity, including Chevron’s launch of the Khanjar-1 well in the Western Mediterranean, and ExxonMobil’s commencement of the Nefertari-1 well. British oil giant Shell also began work on the first two wells of its West Delta Deep Offshore Development (WDDM) Phase 11 trio project in the deep waters of the Mediterranean. The Ministry of Petroleum announced that the Sienna D well began production on June 29, while the Sparrow West-1 began production on July 10, with each well adding 40 million cubic feet per day.

Efforts are now focused on accelerating the development of the third well in this phase, with the goal of bringing it online by September 2024. The ministry added that Phase 11 is scheduled to add a total of 130 million cubic feet per day to production, meaning the third well, Sapphire SC, will add 50 million cubic feet per day.

It is worth noting that Egypt’s gas production rate is still low.