Page 9 - AfrOil Week 25 2021

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil

Egypt’s hydrocarbon trade balance

swings to surplus in FY2020/2021

EGYPT EGYPT’S hydrocarbon trade balance is to
swing to a $820mn surplus in the fiscal year
FY2020/2021, which ends in June, compared
with a deficit of $421mn in the fiscal year
FY2019/2020, after roughly balancing out in
the first half of fiscal year (July-December)
FY2020/2021, local media sources reported.
The improvement in the hydrocarbon trade
balance came on the back of surging natural gas
exports, with LNG exports leading the way.
Egypt has been recently exporting between
800mn and 1bn cubic feet (22.7-28.3mn cubic
metres) per day of natural gas, Petroleum Min-
ister Tarek El Molla was quoted as saying by The discovery of gas at Zohr has helped boost production levels (Image: Eni)
Al Mal newspaper. The country imports 3mn
tonnes per year (tpy) of gasoline and diesel fuel, mcm) per day natural gas in FY2019/20, the
as well as 1.8mn tpy of butane gas, the minister report noted.
added. Egyptian gas production has boomed
In related news, Egypt’s gas production since Italy’s Eni discovered the giant Zohr field
increased by about 15% to 7.540 bcf (214 mcm) off the Mediterranean coast in 2015. The coun-
per day in FY2020/21, according to a report try is trying to position itself as an energy hub in
from state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Hold- the eastern Mediterranean, importing gas from
ing Company (EGAS). Israel and exporting to Jordan and potentially to
Egypt produced about 6.550 bcf (185 Europe and Asia. ™

Wentworth adjusts production

forecast for Mnazi Bay upward

TANZANIA UK-BASED Wentworth Resources revealed last an all-time high of 110.65 mmcf (3.133 mcm),
week that it had adjusted its forecast for natural while monthly output levels reached the record
gas production levels at the Mnazi Bay licence level of 101.85 mmcf (2.884 mcm) per day in
area in southern Tanzania upwards. March.
In a statement issued before its annual gen- According to Wentworth, the members of
eral meeting (AGM) of shareholders, Went- the Mnazi Bay group intend to focus on keeping
worth said that the Mnazi Bay joint venture gas production levels stable in 2021. To this end,
was expected to yield 70-80mn cubic feet (1.98- they are implementing a work programme that
2.27mn cubic metres) per day on average in includes calibrating flow meters at the gas-pro-
2021. It said it had raised the annual production cessing facility; carrying out maintenance work
target from the previous level of 65-75 mmcf on the MS-1X well, including the replacement of
(1.84-2.12 mcm) per day and justified the move casing and flowline valves; conducting a front-
by pointing to “[strong] in-country natural gas end engineering and design (FEED) study on
demand” in the first half of the year. gas compression; refurbishing the MB-1 well’s
It also noted that Mnazi Bay had yielded 80.3 superstructure; and upgrading the Supervisory
mmcf (2.274 mcm) per day of gas on average so Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system
far this year. This represents a rise of 38.2% on used at the field.
the figure of 58.1 mmcf (1.645 mcm) per day Katherine Roe, the CEO of Wentworth,
posted in the same period of 2020. expressed satisfaction with operational perfor-
Meanwhile, daily output levels recently hit mance at the Mnazi Bay licence area.

Week 25 23•June•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9