Egypt’s first shipment of liquefied natural gas left the port of Damietta for Spain Sunday, opening up a new export sector crucial to the country’s economic future, the MENA agency reported. The shipment is owned by Spanish oil and gas firm Union Fenosa, which was part of the venture that built the Damietta facility on the Mediterranean coast.
This export activity started as Egypt's Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi said oil exports, including petrochemicals and natural gas, reached US$ 1.3 billion in the first quarter of the 2004-2005 fiscal year.
Three new natural gas sites were discovered and other 13 new oil wells were drilled to add 84 million barrels to the Egyptian oil production, he added.
The oil experts have managed to fix the daily oil production rate at an average of 700,000 barrels, the Minister noted.
The minister's remarks were made following an economic report from the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation on the Egyptian oil production.
According to the report. revenues of supplying foreign airplanes and ships hit some $222 million during the same period, and that expenditures of oil companies working in Egypt reached $600 million.
