Natural gas discoveries in the Egyptian waters will promote the economic partnership involving Egypt, Cyprus and Greece, visiting Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tareq el Mola said.

Speaking to reporters here, the petroleum minister said the three countries are seeking to boost cooperation in the fields of energy and natural gas liquefaction.

Maritime border demarcation among the three countries will not affect their constructive joint cooperation, Mola said.

The ministry is currently working on delivering natural gas to houses to ease the burden of citizens and cut down the state's butane gas subsidy bill, he said.

Nearly 70% of the locally-produced natural gas goes to the electricity sector as the ministry sought to fill the gas shortage to fulfill the needs of the electricity and industry sectors, he said.

Egypt currently imports from 35% to 40% of its liquefied natural gas needs to meet the local market demand, the minister added.

The Egyptian government is seeking to fulfill the needs of foreign partners to carry out more gas explorations, he noted.

Egypt plans to achieve self-sufficiency of natural gas by 2022 under a development plan targeting the promotion of energy and foreign investments, he said.