15 Agreements on Gas, Oil Exploration to be signed

Minister of Petroleum Sherif Ismail said 15 agreements on oil and natural gas exploration will be signed in the upcoming days, adding that another 35 agreements have already been signed, including 27 new ones on exploration and eight old agreements that have been modified.

The government is moving toward importing gas which is will be taking place for the first time and requires the provision of specialized ports for gas liquefaction, Ismail said on Tuesday during an economic conference at Akhbar Al-Youm Academy sponsored by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

He added that building specified ports requires time, and the completion of the first port should be in December 2014. For gas and oil export, the minister said that Egypt is committed to its agreements with other countries and respects the contracts until the date of expiration.

"We seek to make up for the lack of production by exploring new fields, mainly the Dennis and Crown field in Port Said and Northwest Delta in Alexandria," said Ismail. He pointed out that the north Alexandria project will produce 25 percent of Egypt's natural gas.

There are other planned projects until 2017 that will contribute to making up for the shortage of energy and will cover the gap in production from 2014 until 2017, Ismail said.

According to Ismail, Egypt hopes to make new explorations in the Delta for its deep geological structures as well as in the Western Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea.

Ismail praised partially canceling subsidies on energy saying the decision came in the right time, adding that the cancelation of subsidies on energy will be gradual over five to seven years.

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