Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met with Karim Badawi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, to follow up on efforts to secure the local market’s needs for natural gas and petroleum products.
Madbouly reviewed different scenarios prepared by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPMR) to secure fuel supplies needed for the electricity sector to meet the expected increase in consumption, according to Mohamed Elhomosany, the official spokesperson for the Cabinet.
This will be achieved through boosting local production and utilizing regasification vessels, ensuring safe and sustainable supplies, while also supporting the continued operation of the industrial sector at full production and export capacity, Elhomosany said.
MoPMR secured last year’s natural gas for the national grid by regasifying imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) through four floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) stationed at Ain Sokhna and Damietta, with a combined capacity of 2,700 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/d). Moreover, the ministry also signed in January a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with QatarEnergy for the supply of 24 cargoes of LNG to Egypt.
During the meeting, Badawi presented efforts to increase production from existing fields, alongside the implementation of intensive exploration and drilling programs.
In this context, Madbouly stressed the importance of accelerating the development of the Denise W field, discovered off the coast of Port Said, to maximize its gas production potential and add new volumes to domestic output.
Italian energy company Eni, operator of the field, revealed on April 7 the discovery in the Temsah Concession with preliminary estimates indicating about 2 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas initially in place (GIIP) and 130,000 barrels of associated condensates.
The Denise W discovery is located 70 km offshore at a water depth of 95 meters, less than 10 km from existing infrastructure, a proximity that enables substantial synergies and supports fast-track development.
Badawi also briefed the Prime Minister on the Ministry’s efforts to stimulate investment in the mining sector.
