The state-run Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) on Tuesday announced it would accept international bids this year for natural gas exploration concessions in 19 different locations throughout the country. The move comes in response to a projected 7-percent increase in national gas consumption this year.
“We will offer 17 offshore locations in the Mediterranean and two inland locations in the Nile Delta,” said EGAS President Mahmoud Latif. He added that 12 natural gas discoveries had been made last year in the Mediterranean, the Nile River and the Western Desert.
“The field that was discovered in the Mediterranean is capable of producing one trillion cubic feet of liquid gas and 22 million barrels of condensed gas,” he said, noting that exploration costs stood at US$265 million. “But we signed an agreement with British Petroleum to waive this cost.”
EGAS also announced that its daily production had reached 6 billion cubic feet in the last fiscal year. This figure, he added, was expected to reach 6.2 billion cubic feet in 2011 and 6.9 billion cubic feet in 2012.
According to official data, the electricity sector accounted for 54 percent of total gas consumption in the 2010/11 fiscal year–some 35.3 million tons of gas–followed by the industry sector with 30 percent; the petroleum sector with 13 percent; and individual households and automobiles with 3 percent.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
