Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Tariq Al-Mulla announced the country’s discovery of a new gas block, the Nargis, in the eastern Mediterranean, which is now in the evaluation stage to determine the field’s reserves.
Nargis is one of four offshore exploration blocks in which Chevron holds operating concessions in Egypt along with Tharwa Petroleum, according to Chevron’s website.
Read more: Egypt’s gas export revenues up 13-fold in 8 years
In December, Reuters reported citing the Middle East Economic Survey that the volume of the new well is 3.5 trillion cubic feet of gas.
The discovery might help Egypt in its efforts to establish itself as an energy hub in the eastern Mediterranean following the 2015 announcement of the discovery by Italian energy company Eni of the giant Zohr gas field.
Egypt is working to increase gas production and exports, capitalizing on high prices in international markets.
In September, Egypt’s Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said that Egypt earns about $500 million per month from natural gas exports and hopes to increase that figure to $1 billion in the near future.
According to Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, the country’s natural gas exports increased after the implementation of a plan to rationalize electricity consumption in August.
Moreover, data from analytics firm Refinitiv Eikon revealed that Egypt exported 8.9 billion cubic meters of LNG last year and 4.7 billion cubic meters in the first five months of 2022.
