OREANDA-NEWS Egypt will no longer import natural gas. This was stated by the Minister of oil and mineral resources Tariq al-Mullah. According to this information, the country has reached self-sufficiency in gas and does not need supplies from abroad.

"After the last batch of liquefied natural gas, which Egypt received last week, we announce the cessation of gas imports," the Minister was quoted by Reuters.

Moreover, al-Mullah said that Egypt is seeking to become a regional hub for the trade in liquefied natural gas. Large deposits have been discovered in the country in recent years. Including the offshore gas field ez-Zohr was discovered. Its reserves are estimated at 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Production of its own natural gas in September reached the level of 6.6 billion cubic feet per day in Egypt, while in June it was 6 billion cubic feet per day.

In February 2018, the oil and gas company DEA Deutsche Erdoel, a member of Mikhail Friedman's LetterOne group, announced that it intends to invest $500 million in oil and gas production in Egypt for three years.

"Egypt continues to be an important area in the DEA global portfolio. With targeted investments in our key assets, we plan to double our products in the country over the next two years," said DEA CEO Maria Moreus Hansen. The company announced plans to increase production from the oil fields in the Suez canal and the Disouq gas field in the Nile Delta.

"The development of new fields has accelerated Egypt's self - sufficiency earlier than originally planned end of this year, - said the Minister. - Refusal to import will save the Treasury about 27 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.5 billion), which will be aimed at economic reforms."

In the next four years in the Mediterranean, it is planned to implement 16 projects in the gas sector with a total cost of $25 billion. In addition, over the past four years in the oil and gas sector, 24 projects have been implemented with an investment capital of $2.16 billion, which led to the production of 1.4 billion cubic meters of gas and 26 thousand barrels of condensate.