The penultimate day of the Egypt Petroleum Show (EGYPS) brought news on fresh investment from Energean and the country’s efforts to up gas production and exports to Europe.

Big local investment plans for Energean: London-headquartered exploration and production outfit Energean plans to invest USD 350 mn in its Abu Qir concession this year, Nicolas Katcharov, Energean International CEO and chairman and Egypt country manager, reportedly told Asharq Business on the sidelines of EGYPS.

IN CONTEXT- That’s a lot of money. The planned investments are equal to about 17.5% of the USD 2 bn Energean has invested in Egypt to date, per Katcharov.

About Abu Qir: Energean holds a 100% stake in the concession, which it acquired from Edison in 2019 as part of a wider purchase of the Italian company’s total energy portfolio. Abu Qir is the oldest gas production area in the Mediterranean Sea and contains some 88 mn barrels of oil equivalent. Production is expected to continue until 2033.

Energean is putting its money where its mouth is: The company has been banging the drum for more gas investment in the Eastern Mediterranean after it began drilling Israel’s Karish gas field following an agreement over disputed maritime territory between Israel and Lebanon. The region could be a “stable supplier” of gas to the EU, CEO Mathios Rigas said in November. “I think there is a lot more gas to be found.” The first oil shipment out of Karish was loaded on Monday, the Financial Times reports, marking the first time Israel has exported crude.

MEANWHILE- Egypt’s gas production is expected to remain flat this year but a raft of new exploration projects the government is planning in the next two years should raise output going forward, Reuters reports EGAS chairman Magdy Galal as saying at the EGYPS conference yesterday. Production in the current fiscal year is likely to be around 6.4 bn cubic feet per day but plans to drill around 30 new wells this fiscal year and next should increase this, he said.

There’s room to expand at Idku and Damietta: Adding five new liquefaction units to the Idku and Damietta plants could boost the country’s export capacity from 13 mn tons annually to 30 mn tons, Galal said. Expanding the terminals would take several years and require sizable investment, the newswire says, citing industry sources.

REMEMBER- Our liquefaction plants aren’t yet running at full capacity, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla said at EGYPS earlier in the week. To up LNG production in the short term, Israel would need to increase its gas exports to Egypt for processing at the Idku and Damietta facilities, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson seemed to suggest to Reuters on Monday. Our LNG exports are expected to remain flat this year at around 7.5 mn tons.