Egypt is looking to production from recently discovered fields to halt energy imports by 2019.

A petroleum ministry official said last month that new production at Shell's West Nile Delta field 9B is expected to reach 350-400 million cubic feet per day by 2019.

Separately, production from the first 3 wells in the field is set to begin in the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

The field is owned by Egypt's General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), Malaysia's Petronas and Shell.