Egypt's natural gas exports fell 81% Y-o-Y in April: Report

Egypt's exports of natural gas drastically declined by 80.9 percent in April compared to the same month of last year, according to the latest report on economic and social indicators released by the state-run Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC).

The report said that Egyptian exports of natural gas in April were worth some $30.5 million, against $160 million in April of 2013.

Natural gas production in the aforementioned period also fell by 14 percent to reach 3 million tonnes, down from 3.5 million tonnes in the corresponding period a year before, IDSC added.

Construction work in new gas fields in Egypt's Western Desert caused a halt in gas production in some places for 10 days, which reduced output by 5 percent, the petroleum ministry said in April.

However, electricity recorded 57.4 percent consumption of the country's total natural gas production in April 2014, representing a 2.7 percent annual rise to meet the demands of the state's power grid and avoid the frequent blackouts that have heavily increased since mid-March of this year.

Meanwhile, the country's exports of crude oil rose 20 percent in April, registering $516.5 million compared to $430 million in the same month a year before, IDSC reported.