With energy reserves in decline and a growing population, in the spring of 2015, Egypt began importing gas and oil due to its inability to achieve energy self-sufficiency. Few months later, the Italian energy company Eni announced the discovery of the huge gas field, Zohr, which is immediately called the biggest discovery in the Mediterranean Sea in the last twenty years.
The Zohr field represents an opportunity for Egypt to develop its own energy sector, with the collaboration between Eni and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), called Petrobel. This offshore field is located approximately 200 km from Port Said, the tip of Egypt that looks eastwards, and is capable of satisfying over 60% of the country's energy consumption, transforming itself from an importer to an exporter and contributing, without any doubt, to national and regional energy stability. In fact, President Al-Sisi's idea was to make Egypt a regional gas hub, increasing its economic prosperity through the export of resources from this field.
Israel's Energy Assistance
The high temperatures that characterized this summer were also recorded in Egypt, increasing the demand for electricity for cooling. Consequently, in late July, President Al-Sisi implemented a new electricity blackout program in major Egyptian cities for a few hours with the aim of reducing high energy consumption. This action was taken against the backdrop of the country's economic crisis due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the consequent need for financial liquidity and foreign currency of the country, mainly coming from the export of natural gas. The blackout program was intended to decrease domestic energy consumption to preserve it for export. The Egyptian population has obviously responded negatively to the power outage. Being trapped in the scorching heat of August, she denounced her condition to the Human Rights Watch, which gave the Egyptian government a yellow card.
As a result, this situation shows the decline of Egypt's dream to become a regional gas hub capable of exporting energy to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, even with the support of Israel in the sale of gas. In fact, with the risk of a false energy security in the country, the Israeli Minister of Energy, Israel Katz, and the government of Al-Sisi have strengthened diplomatic relations and energy cooperation, granting new gas exports from Israel,which seem, however, to be intended for domestic use only.
President Al-Sisi has also entered into other energy agreements for the development of renewable projects, such as Siemens power plants or wind farms, and at the same time met with BP (British Petroleum) CEO Bernard Looney to discuss the drilling of four new natural gas wells in Egypt, again led by the joint venture with the Pharaonic Petroleum Company and Petrobel in the country.
Increase in Zohr Production
Recently, Egypt's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El-Molla, announced an ambitious expansion of gas and oil production from the Zohr field, scheduled for 2024-2025. The partnership between Petrobel and the energy company Eni has been a successful model for the Egyptian energy sector, contributing to the increase in energy production and the development of cutting-edge technologies.
The offshore activity intensification project has multiple objectives: first, the government of Al-Sisi intends to increase energy production to meet the growing domestic demand and, In this way, storing a greater amount of gas to be exported abroad; secondly, Egypt is moving towards an energy transition starting from the extraction of resources in a sustainable and economic way, thanks to advanced equipment. Finally, the plan involves the development of research and exploration through new resources and funding that will allow a greater commitment of the government in the optimization of its energy sector.
Egypt plans to drill 35 new natural gas wells in the Mediterranean and the Nile Delta by 2025, with an investment of $1.8 billion. Among these wells, 21 will be completed between this year and the next, while 14 will be explored in 2024/2025 to compensate for declining gas supply and growing domestic demand. However, suspicions remain about the severity of the environmental damage that could be caused by the field expansion.
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Sources consulted for this article:
image link : https://unsplash.com/it/foto/J6qii_tDnOs
https://www.oilandgasmiddleeast.com/news/egypt-to-expand-oil-and-gas-production-from-zohr-gas-field
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2375661/business-economy
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/8/23/israel-approves-increase-in-gas-exports-to-egypt
https://www.newarab.com/opinion/when-israels-gas-becomes-egypts-solution
https://www.eni.com/it-IT/attivita/egitto-zohr.html
https://geagency.it/clima-egitto-taglia-elettricita-per-aumento-consumo-energetico/
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Federica Luise
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Egitto il cairo el sisi al sisi energy resources gas naturale zohr eni petrobel Mar Mediterraneo risorse naturali blackout Israel Katz BP