Approximately 80m cubic feet of gas will be added to production daily during the month of December, according to a senior official at gas holding company EGAS. In statements made to Al-Borsa newspaper, the official said that two wells owned by Petrobel will be connected this month, with each well producing 40m cubic feet of gas daily. He explained that Egypt's natural gas production rates are declining at a natural rate of 100m cubic feet monthly. On a related note, the official explained that 520m cubic feet of gas will be supplied daily to fertiliser and cement factories, representing 60% of their total actual needs of gas, which amount to 920m cubic feet. He said that gas supplies sent to factories were increased at a rate of 30% of their needs due to the decrease in power station consumption rates from 95m cubic metres per day to 80m cubic metres at present. The official said that Egypt is facing a severe shortage in natural gas production in light of a slow-down of development and research operations by foreign partners. This has led to a failure to connect new wells to production to make up for the decrease, and for this reason, the government has taken action to begin importing gas shipments in March 2015.
