BP has started gas production from two fields in its West Nile Delta development offshore Egypt, the second of seven projects the oil and gas company plans to launch this year.

The Taurus and Libra fields, commissioned eight months ahead of schedule and under budget, are currently producing 700 million standard cubic feet of gas a day to the Egyptian national gas grid, BP said in a statement.

The West Nile Delta development includes five offshore gas fields which are planned to have in 2019 a combined production of up to almost 42 MMcm/d (1.5 Bcf/d), equivalent to about 30% of Egypt’s current gas production.

The subsea greenfield development includes nine wells—six in Taurus and three in Libra—and a 42-km (20-mile) tieback to the existing onshore processing facility, BP said. All the gas produced will be fed into the national gas grid.

BP is set to start up seven projects this year, including in Oman, the North Sea and Azerbaijan, the largest number in a single year in BP's history. It hopes to add 800,000 bbl/d of new production by the end of the decade.