Egypt has a gas export capacity of around 1 billion cubic feet (bcf) per day, the country's Petroleum Minister Tareq El-Molla said in an interview with Sky News Arabia on Monday.

“I can’t say Egypt exports this quantity on a daily basis, given the dramatic drops in the prices of liquefied natural gas that we have witnessed lately in parallel with the decline in oil prices… but we can say we possess an export capacity of 1 billion cubic feet per day,” he added.

Egypt has reached daily gas exports of 300 to 800 million cubic feet (mcf) per day, Minister El-Molla said.

Egypt has made a series of oil and gas discoveries in recent years, most notably the giant Zohr gas field.

The Zohr field, which is the biggest in the Mediterranean, was discovered off the Egyptian coast by Italy’s Eni oil company in 2015.

Speaking on oil-for-reconstruction mechanisms between Egypt and Iraq, El-Molla said that "the matter is still under discussion and has not yet reached a final deal."

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has hinted at an initial consensus between the two countries to establish an oil-for-reconstruction mechanism, under which Egyptian companies are to implement construction ventures in Iraq in return for providing Cairo with quantities of oil.

Madbouly made his statements following the Egyptian-Iraqi high committee meeting held in Baghdad in late October to boost cooperation between the two nations.