Meleiha Phase 2 is entering start-up activities in Egypt’s Western Desert, with announced processing capacity of 100 million cubic feet of gas per day. Eni’s October 20 announcement marks an anticipated milestone for local supply. It does not, however, mean the facility has already reached this rate or that the full quantity will be added to national production.
This distinction is essential in a country where declining existing fields and growing demand have changed the gas balance. Starting activities paves the way for gradual commissioning of a new processing center. Actual available volumes will depend on wells and equipment ramping up, followed by connection to the network.
Integrated infrastructure around the Meleiha concession
Meleiha Phase 2 is developed by Agiba Petroleum Company, Eni’s joint venture with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), within the Merged Meleiha concession. It includes development wells, gathering networks, main transport lines and a dedicated pipeline exporting gas to existing national infrastructure.
The issue therefore goes beyond installing a processing unit. It involves linking drilling, gathering, compression, processing and transport to bring field gas to the grid. A delay in any one element can slow arrivals even when the plant is available.
Eni says the new facility is designed to process up to 100 million standard cubic feet per day, or around one billion cubic meters annually. This describes the planned technical processing ceiling, not guaranteed production. Actual flow will depend on raw gas supply, well performance, equipment availability and consumption needs.
An expected contribution below nameplate capacity
In September, Egyptian Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi said Meleiha fields could contribute around 80 million cubic feet per day by month-end following completion of the plant’s second phase. The October 20 start-up announcement means that deadline should be treated as an earlier forecast, rather than confirmation of production achieved in September.
The difference between the anticipated 80 million cubic feet and 100 million of processing capacity is not contradictory. The first figure concerns expected near-term gas supply; the second reflects facility design. Future growth will depend on well development and sufficient resources to use equipment at a higher level.
For Egypt, even a limited contribution can ease pressure on a system serving electricity generation, industry and households. Declining domestic production in recent years has increased reliance on imports, particularly LNG. Meleiha forms part of projects intended to reverse this trend, but its impact will be measured over coming months through volumes actually delivered to the network.
The gas recovery effort has several fronts
The project uses onshore facilities and complements exploration and development at other fields. The government announced a target of increasing national output by around 330 million cubic feet per day before the end of 2026. Meleiha was to contribute alongside Mediterranean projects and other developments. An aggregate production target nevertheless remains subject to each asset’s execution schedule and operational results.
The Western Desert is important in Eni’s Egyptian portfolio, where it operates with national partners. Production relies on a network of onshore fields and drilling and connection work. Proximity to existing infrastructure can accelerate commercialization, but removes neither well-decline risks nor the costs of maintaining volumes.
The dedicated pipeline announced under phase 2 is intended to connect new flows to Egypt’s network. Its function is strategic: transporting gas to domestic consumers and, depending on availability, to utilization or export infrastructure. In the current context, however, the immediate priority remains supplying the domestic market, which needs regular volumes.
Ramp-up will be the test
The next stage will be observing progress from start-up activities to commercial commissioning. Decisive indicators will be sustained well flow, processing stability, transport continuity and quantities actually injected into the grid. Without these data, installed capacity does not yet establish a reversal of the national trend.
For Eni and EGPC, Meleiha Phase 2 can develop local resources and extend Western Desert infrastructure use. For the Egyptian state, the benefit is replacing some imports with domestically extracted gas and securing supply for power plants and industries. This also depends on production costs compared with imported cargo prices and investment needed to maintain the field.
Meleiha’s start-up is therefore a concrete milestone, but the project’s contribution to Egyptian energy security remains to be established. Capacity of 100 million cubic feet per day sets a technical scale; volumes actually delivered will determine the new infrastructure’s weight in the national gas balance.