Egypt's Zohr Gas Field Daily Output Hits 2 Bln Cubic Feet

via Reuters
via Reuters
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Egypt's Zohr Gas Field Daily Output Hits 2 Bln Cubic Feet

via Reuters
via Reuters

Production at Egypt's Zohr gas field hit 2 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d), Egyptian oil ministry said in a statement Friday.

"Nearly 7.7 billion US dollars have been invested in Zohr so far," it added.

"The high production will contribute strongly to self-sufficiency of natural gas in the country," Egypt's Petroleum Minister Tarek al-Molla said.

On December 16, 2017, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced the start of the operation of gas pumping from the offshore wells in Zohr field to the new offshore station in El Gamil region in Port Said with an initial production rate of about 350 million cubic feet of gas per day.

That was possible after the success of the technical operation tests for the processing units and the gas transmission lines from the field’s well to the processing station.

Discovered in 2015 by Italy's Eni, Zohr contains an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Egypt has been seeking to speed up production from recently discovered fields, with an eye to halting imports by 2019 and achieving self-sufficiency.



China's Coal Power Plants Grow After 2024 Decline

Guohua Power Station, a coal-fired power plant, operates in Dingzhou, Baoding, in the northern China's Hebei province (AP)
Guohua Power Station, a coal-fired power plant, operates in Dingzhou, Baoding, in the northern China's Hebei province (AP)
TT
20

China's Coal Power Plants Grow After 2024 Decline

Guohua Power Station, a coal-fired power plant, operates in Dingzhou, Baoding, in the northern China's Hebei province (AP)
Guohua Power Station, a coal-fired power plant, operates in Dingzhou, Baoding, in the northern China's Hebei province (AP)

China approved 11.29 gigawatts (GW) of new coal power plants in the first three months of 2025, already exceeding the 10.34 GW approved in the first half of 2024, a new Greenpeace report showed on Thursday.

Last year, Chinese approvals of new coal-fired power capacity fell 41.5% year-on-year to 62.24 GW, the first annual decline since 2021. The new data suggest approvals are tracking higher this year.

While all the approved projects may not be built, the growing pipeline signals a continued reliance on coal.

Reducing coal use to cut emissions is key to China's goal to hit peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.

Gao Yuhe, Greenpeace's climate and energy project manager for East Asia said,

“The year 2025 marks a pivotal moment in the country’s energy transition. There is already enough existing capacity to meet today's peak demand.

Approving a new wave of large-scale coal projects risks creating overcapacity, stranded assets, and higher transition costs.”

State planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the National Energy Administration did not immediately respond to faxed requests for comment.

This year marks the last in China's 2021-2025 five-year plan, in which China has approved 289 GW in new coal capacity, around double the 145 GW approved for the 2016-2020 period.

China has said it will start to phase down coal during the 2026-2030 five-year plan, but Beijing has not committed to any specific targets.

In return, Greenpeace called for more ambitious carbon emissions goals from China and a clear timeline for phasing out coal.

It also said China's power sector emissions could peak this year as growth in wind and solar outpaces coal.