Egypt's Energy Industry

Egypt: building a regional gas hub

Egypt’s oil and gas sector is the backbone of the country’s economic prosperity and represents about a quarter of the its GDP. Egypt has enjoyed relative political stability since 2014; the government has launched ambitious macroeconomic reform programmes, which have helped the economy stabilise and improved the business environment in the country. The increase in optimism surrounding the Egyptian oil and gas market is supported by the elimination of fuel subsidies and new bid rounds and PSAs.

Egypt struck fortune in 2015 with the discovery of the 850-bcm (30-tcf) super-giant Zohr gasfield in the Eastern Mediterranean, which at the time could meet more than half the country’s demand. Zohr represents the largest gas discovery ever made in Egypt and the Mediterranean. Led by Italian operator Eni, the country has continued to make significant offshore discoveries that point the country in the direction of becoming independent of energy imports and a regional petroleum hub.

“We are witnessing giant international companies such as ExxonMobil and Chevron investing in Egypt for the first time in the upstream domain,” Egypt’s then-Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla told The Energy Year. “There is no doubt that the distinguished fruits we are witnessing today in various fields and activities are the result of this pioneering initiative for developing and modernising the petroleum sector.”

To match its growing production, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has upped spend on the country’s downstream operations to refine its base product and become a net exporter of petrochemicals to the region.  The ministry has also launched significant exploration and production tenders to increase the country’s gas production. The government is putting its chips on its nascent energy industry to build a sustainable economy and diversify its industrial ecosystem to at last maximise the country’s economic potential.