In the midst of economic turmoil, the recent announcement of a natural gas discovery offshore of Egypt has given the country’s stock market a much needed boost.
The news saw the North African country’s benchmark EGX 30 Index climb by 2.8%, with around EGP607 million (US$78 million) of shares traded, as reported by Bloomberg. This is the highest in nearly two months.
The natural gas field, discovered by Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA, has been described as a ‘super giant’ and is speculated to hold up to 30 trillion cubic feet of gas (equivalent to 5.5 billion barrels of oil).
That equates to around half of Egypt’s current reserves. What’s more, it has the potential to bring the government US$48 billion in revenue even after the company’s share has been accounted for.
