The Zohr natural gas field discovered off Egypt by Italy's Eni is the largest found in the Mediterranean and at a potential 30 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas is almost twice as large as the Leviathan field off Israel.
The discovery, announced on Sunday, covers about 100 square kilometres and could help meet energy-starved Egypt's gas needs for decades.
The find could compete with gas projects in Israel and Cyprus.
Globally, however, Egypt is outside the top 10 countries in total gas reserves, with Russia, Iran and Qatar holding by far the largest.
Below are the top three biggest gas fields in the world, followed by the biggest in the Mediterranean:
FIELD NAME SIZE LOCATION DISCOVERED STATUS
TOP THREE BIGGEST IN WORLD
South Pars/ 1,800 tcf Iran/Qatar 1971 producing since 1989
North Field
Urengoy 275 tcf Russia 1966 producing since 1978
Yamburg 200 tcf Russia 1969 producing since 1986
MEDITERRANEAN:
Hassi R'Mel 85 tcf Algeria 1956 producing since 1961
Zohr 30 tcf off Egypt 2015 undeveloped
Leviathan 17 tcf off Israel 2010 undeveloped
Tahaddi 9-10 tcf off Libya 1999 producing since 2006
Tamar 7.9 tcf off Israel 2009 producing since 2013
Salamat 5 tcf off Egypt 2013 undeveloped
Atoll-1 5 tcf off Egypt 2015 undeveloped
Aphrodite 4.5 tcf off Cyprus 2011 undeveloped
(Compiled by Jason Neely and Oleg Vukmanovic, editing by William Hardy)
