Italian energy company Eni reportedly plans to invest $180 million in a new gas processing plant at its Meleiha onshore concession in Egypt’s Western Desert amid a growing domestic shortfall of gas.

The plant will have a processing capacity of 100 million cubic feet per day, Asharq Business, an Arabic-language financial website, reported, quoting an unidentified official.

Eni aims to add nearly 80 million cubic feet per day to the country’s gas production by next September, as part of a plan to increase output from the Meleiha fields next year. 

The plant will increase field efficiency and reduce losses, helping Cairo to boost domestic gas production and narrow the production-consumption gap.

Eni also intends to build a new gas pipeline within the concession and link it to the northern pipeline in the Mellaha area, strengthening gas processing and transport in the Western Desert.

The Italian company started production from the Mellaha field in April 2022 with an initial capacity of 8,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Egypt’s petroleum ministry has been working with foreign companies to complete five gas projects next fiscal year, with total investments of $1.6 billion. The country’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.

It produces an estimated 4.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, compared with domestic demand of 6.2 billion cubic feet per day. 

In October Eni resumed offshore exploration in Libya after a hiatus of over five years.

This month, Egypt launched a global tender for oil and gas exploration in four Red Sea regions, aiming to attract new foreign investment and boost domestic gas production.

AGBI registered members can access even more of our unique analysis and perspective on business and economics in the Middle East.

Already registered? Sign in

I’ll register later

AGBI registered members can access even more of our unique analysis and perspective on business and economics in the Middle East.

Already registered? Sign in

I’ll register later