For much of 2017 Egyptian officials have been touting that the country will have a gas surplus as early as mid-2018. Egypt last had an annual gas surplus in 2013 when output was almost 5.5bn cfd and it exported 50 cargoes of LNG.

Output subsequently slumped, plumbing a nine-year low of 3.89mn cfd in May last year. (CONTINUED - 1791 WORDS)