While Egypt gas output receives the plaudits (MEES, 17 August), oil output has shown only tentative signs of recovery from 2017’s 35-year low of 629,000 b/d (MEES, 9 March). Output was 643,000 b/d for the first six months of 2018 with key Western Desert producers Apache and Eni highlighting output boosts (MEES, 3 August).

But Egypt’s former oil heartland, in the Gulf of Suez, is seeing a continued slump in output: its share of Egypt’s oil output has fallen from 47% in 2010 to 37% for Q2 this year. The region’s June output of 238,000 b/d is the lowest in over 40 years and a far cry from the mid-1980s when the region produced 800,000 b/d. (CONTINUED - 137 WORDS)