Gas production at the Mina West field in Egypt is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2026, according to the Vice President and Country Chair of Shell Egypt, who made the statement during a meeting with the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (Egyptian government statement, 04/05/2026).
Located in the Mediterranean Sea, the project is being developed by Shell and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC), in partnership with Egypt’s Rashid Petroleum. Drilling activities for a second well, Mina West-2, are currently underway (Ecofin Agency, 06/05/2026); it should supply approximately 160 mcf/d day (1.7 bcm/year) through a tie-in to existing infrastructure.
This announcement comes in a context where Egypt is impacted by the Middle East conflict, while remaining highly dependent on gas imports from the region, particularly from Israel, which has experienced production reductions (KEI, 09/04/2026). The Egyptian Prime Minister indicated in March 2026 that the conflict had nearly tripled the country’s natural gas import bill, rising from USD560m to USD1.65bn per month (Euronews, 07/04/2026).
Based on our data, Egypt’s gas production has been on a steep decline since reaching its peak in 2021 at 71 bcm (-14%/year), falling to 45 bcm in 2024. This drop is largely attributable to decreasing output from the country’s largest field, Zohr gas field. Prior to this downturn, gas production had increased significantly following the start-up of the Zohr field in 2017 (+7%/year between 2017 and 2021). Since 2020, Egypt has been importing growing volumes of natural gas from Israel, becoming a net gas importer in 2023, with imports doubling in 2024 to reach 13 bcm (Enerdata Global Energy Research).