Egypt has made a new shallow-water oil discovery in the Gisum offshore concession in the southern part of the Gulf of Suez, with an initial production of 2,000 barrels of crude oil per day, the oil ministry said on Thursday.

The area has an estimated output capacity of 70 million barrels of crude oil, the ministry said in a statement.

The discovery, GNN-4, has been made by Petrogulf Misr, which oversees the operation on behalf of the Egyptian General Petroleum Authority, PICO, and KUFPEC.

The new discovery indicates that greater oil resources are waiting to be tapped, the statement added.

Egypt's Ganoub El-Wadi Petroleum Holding Company is technically supervising the concession area, according to the oil ministry.

Egypt has made a series of oil and gas discoveries in recent years.

The discovery of the giant Zohr gas field, the largest in the Mediterranean, in Egypt by Italy’s Eni in 2015 has drawn the interest of investors in the country's energy sector.

Egypt is targeting an output of 700,000 barrels of crude oil and gas condensate in the 2019/2020 fiscal year ending this month.