(Corrects headline to say gas output (not oil output) and clarifies it means gas production in the lede)
CAIRO, Oct 24 (Reuters) - British oil major BP willbegin gas production at its north Alexandria concession in early2017 rather than mid-2017, Egypt's petroleum minister Tarek ElMolla said at a news conference on Saturday.
The offshore concession's output will be roughly "450million cubic feet per day in 2017 and reach 1.2 billion cubicfeet per day by the end of 2019," said El Molla.
These volumes will mean a significant boost to gasproduction in Egypt, a country that has been searching for waysto plug acute energy shortages that have slowed production atmany of the country's energy-intensive industries.
BP also said this week it had been awarded three newoffshore exploration blocks in Egypt and that it and itspartners had committed to investment of $229 million.
Egyptian authorities have in recent months worked to improveterms for foreign oil and gas businesses in the hope that morecompetitive pricing will encourage investment in theenergy-hungry country.
Once an energy exporter, falling oil and gas productioncoupled with rising consumption have forced Egypt to divertsupplies to the domestic market and it is now a net energyimporter. (Reporting by Ehab Farouk)