Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt has signed 70 new oil exploration agreements during the last three years with investments amount to $15 billion, said Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla.

Egypt’s petroleum sector strategy is based on number dimensions, topped by its efforts to boost the country’s productivity and reserves of oil and gas through developing the exploration activities in the Mediterranean and Delta.

Earlier, Egypt’s petroleum minister unveiled that Egypt will boost production of natural gas to 5 billion cubic feet per day in the fiscal year 2017/18 as Zoher field comes online.

Zohr is expected to produce 2.5-3 billion cubic feet per day when it reaches peak production in 2019.

Egypt's domestic gas production is currently about 4.35 billion cubic feet per day versus consumption of around 5.2 billion, Molla said.

Also, Egypt's gas company EGAS will also launch a new exploration tender in early 2017, offering nine to 11 concessions, as part of efforts to boost production.