The December 2017 start-ups of both Eni’s 21.5tcf Zohr and BP’s 1.5tcf Atoll have boosted Egypt gas output to within touching distance of record levels.

Having bottomed out at just under 4bn cfd in the first half of 2016 output has since strongly rebounded. Output rose back above 5bn cfd from April 2017 with the start-up of BP’s West Nile Delta (MEES, 31 March 2017). And production is now testing 6bn cfd –a level last topped in January 2012 – as output from Eni’s Zohr hit 1.1bn cfd from mid-May with the start-up of a third 400mn cfd-capacity processing train less than a month after the second began production (MEES, 4 May). (CONTINUED - 1170 WORDS)