Egypt said on Saturday it will stop importing natural gas after its final liquefied shipments arrived last week.

The country will save $1.5 billion a year by no longer importing LNG, Abdelaziz added.

Egypt imported 76 LNG shipments in 2017-2018 worth $1.8 billion.

Egypt aims to be a regional hub for the trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG) after a string of major discoveries in recent years, including the giant Zohr offshore gas field which holds an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.

The country's production of natural gas this month reached 6.6 billion cubic feet per day, compared with 6 billion feet per day in July. Production has been growing steadily since the field began operating in December.