Minister: Egypt's gas production will swell to meet summer demand

Egypt’s petroleum minister has pledged to step up gas production in the next six months to meet an expected spike in demand over the summer, according to local media.

Gas production will increase by 500 million cubic feet per day (mcf/d) to reach 5.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) by December, Al-Ahram's Arabic news website, quoted Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail as saying.

Ismail said a string of gas projects that are scheduled to come online in the next few months. Dakka fields will be connected to the production network in July with two further projects expected to come on stream in August.

The projected increase should help to alleviate a crippling energy shortage which has seen the country suffer mass shortages and rolling blackouts.

Last month, Ismail told Al-Ahram that the ministry will start drilling 17 new wells at a cost of $2.4 bn to increase production by almost one billion cubic feet per day.

Political turbulence which has enveloped the country since the 2011 revolution toppled former strongman Hosni Mubarak has hit the country’s gas industry hard.

Many international companies have had to cut production and put the brakes on various projects that had been in the pipeline.

British Gas, a major international player in Egypt, earlier this year was forced to break contracts with customers after the Egyptian authorities were forced to divert their gas for the domestic market.

The Egyptian government also faces billions in possible liabilities for failing to meet obligations with Israel, which require Cairo to provide Tel Aviv with discounted gas for a continuous 15-year period.

The accusations came to light earlier this week in an Al Jazeera documentary, while the Middle East Eye also published a string of secret documents revealing the highly controversial details of the bilateral gas deal.