page_title: Energy in Egypt
section_title: Natural gas
hierarchical_section_title: Energy in Egypt / Natural gas
caption_attribution_description: The startup of a number of natural gas development projects located offshore in the eastern Mediterranean Sea near Egypt’s northern coast has significantly altered the outlook for the region’s natural gas markets. &lt;a href="http://go.usa.gov/xU6AZ" rel="nofollow"&gt;go.usa.gov/xU6AZ&lt;/a&gt; August 14, 2018
context_section_description: Major discoveries in the 1990s have given natural gas increasing importance as an energy source. As of 2005, the country's reserves of natural gas are estimated at 66 trillion cubic feet (1.9×10¹² m³), which are the third largest in Africa. Probable reserves have been placed at or more than 120 trillion cubic feet (3.4×10¹² m³). Since the early 1990s, significant deposits of natural gas have been found in the Western Desert, in the Nile Delta and offshore from the Nile Delta. Domestic consumption of natural gas has also risen as a result of thermal power plants converting from oil to natural gas. Egypt's production of natural gas was estimated at 2,000 billion cubic feet (57×10⁹ m³) in 2013, of which almost 1,900 billion cubic feet (54×10⁹ m³) was domestically consumed.
  Natural gas is exported by the Arab Gas Pipeline to the Middle East and in the future potentially to Europe. When completed, it will have a total length of 1,200 kilometres (750 mi). Natural gas is also exported as liquefied natural gas (LNG), produced at the plants of Egyptian LNG and SEGAS LNG. BP and Eni, the Italian oil and gas company, together with Gas Natural Fenosa of Spain, built major liquefied natural gas facilities in Egypt for the export market, but the plants were largely idled as domestic gas consumption has soared.
  In March 2015, BP signed a $12 billion deal to develop natural gas in Egypt intended for sale in the domestic market starting in 2017. BP said it would develop a large quantity of offshore gas, equivalent to about one-quarter of Egypt's output, and bring it onshore for domestic consumers. Gas from the project, called West Nile Delta, was expected to begin flowing in 2017. BP said that additional exploration might double the amount of gas available.
  In September 2015, Eni announced the discovery of the Zohr gas field, largest in the Mediterranean. The field was estimated at around 30 trillion cubic feet (850×10⁹ m³) of total gas in place.
  Dolphinus Holdings Ltd provides gas from Israeli fields to Egypt. In November 2019, Egypt signed a number of energy deals at a conference, including a $430-million deal for Texas-based Noble Energy to pump natural gas through the East Mediterranean Gas Co’s pipeline.
caption: Natural gas fields in Egypt
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