Egypt's Gas Exports Drops by 81% in April

Egypt's natural gas exports in April dropped by 80.9 percent compared with corresponding period last year, according to state-run Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC).

The report said Egyptian exports of natural gas in April were worth $30.5 million, against $160 million in April of 2013, ahramonline says.

Gas output also declined by 14 percent in April, according to IDSC.

According to ahramonline, Egypt’s petroleum ministry in April said construction work in new gas fields in Egypt's Western Desert caused a halt in gas production in some places for 10 days, which reduced output by 5 percent.

The government, however, is optimistic that gas production would rebound by year end.

Earlier this month, Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail said that several gas fields in Egypt are expected to start production in the next six months, raising gas production by 500 million cubic feet per day (mcf/d) to reach 5.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) by December, reports ahramonline.

In May, the ministry forecasted total natural gas production to increase 1.7 percent to reach 5.4 bcf/d in the coming fiscal year 2014-15 which starts in July.