Egypt: Government plans to boost oil production by end of 2019

Egypt is looking to boost its crude oil and condensate production to 690,000 bpd by the end of the year from the current 630,000 bpd, Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek al-Mulla said this week.

Egypt—neither a member of OPEC nor a part of the non-OPEC group of producers in the OPEC+ coalition that restricts output to drain the glut and boost oil prices—has introduced new economic incentives to encourage more international investment in its oil exploration activities, Egypt Independent quoted minister al-Mulla as saying.

Egypt has launched a bid round for oil and gas exploration in the Red Sea area, with application date deadline on September 15, the minister said.

The country has also formed a task force to draft proposals on how to quickly raise oil production, he added.

In recent years, Egypt has been at the center of a ‘natural gas rush’ in the eastern Mediterranean after Italy’s major Eni discovered the huge Zohr field in 2015, claiming it was the largest ever gas discovery in the Mediterranean.

Following the start-up of the giant Zohr field in early 2018, Egypt became an important player in the Mediterranean. Zohr plays a key role in helping Egypt to avoid the need to import liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to the Italian energy major.

Egypt will return to being a gas exporter this year and wants to be a regional gas hub due to its strategic geographic position. It is also attracting international oil majors to its oil and gas sector.

Earlier this year, BP’s chief executive officer Bob Dudley said that the UK based supermajor had invested more in Egypt in each of the past two years than in any other country.

Egypt’s luck in geographical positioning and the much improved investment climate have led to an “astonishing gas renaissance” in the country, Wood Mackenzie’s Chairman and Chief Analyst, Simon Flowers, wrote in April last year.