Oil major BP said it plans to start production from a new natural gas discovery in Egypt in 2018.
The company said it also aims to double its production from the country by the end of the decade.
The Atoll offshore field will be developed with two initial wells connected to existing infrastructure.
In the second phase of the project BP said it will invest more as well as drilling additional wells to raise output.
The discovery by oil major BP was announced earlier this year in March.
The field has an estimated 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas and 31 million barrels of condensate, which will be sold in the local market.
A “super giant” offshore gas field discovered by Eni SpA in August, which the Italian company said is the largest find in the Mediterranean, will further add to Egypt’s supplies.
“We are pleased to be making rapid progress towards the development of Atoll less than eight months after the announcement of its discovery,” BP’s Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley said in the statement.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s biggest energy company, and BP are struggling to increase oil and gas production and add to their reserves.
BP’s total output has dropped every year since 2010 and was 3.2 million barrels a day in the third quarter of this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
It’s reserves have declined in four of the past five years, while Shell’s have dropped in three of the last four.
BP expects to double its gas production in Egypt before the end of the decade to 2.5 billion cubic feet a day, which will be more than 50 percent of the county’s current output, according to the statement.
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