Companies have made large investments in these fields, encouraged by attractive Egyptian purchase prices indexed to Gulf of Suez crude. Domestic gas use has grown with the construction of a 3,000-km gas distribution network reaching most major electrical plants. Egyptian gas consumption is expected to reach 59.2 billion cubic feet per day in the year 2000. New discoveries should lead to an exportable surplus of gas by 1999, though continued softness in world oil and gas markets is likely to negatively affect the sector's contribution to GDP growth in the years ahead. In 1998, falling petroleum prices hit energy sector earnings hard.
Agriculture remains one of Egypt's most important sectors.
Despite productivity gains since the mid-1980s, Egypt remains one of the world's largest food importers. Construction on the Toshka Canal project began in October 1996 in the Western Desert north of Abu Simbel. The project aims to double the size of Egypt's arable land in fifteen years' time. Government incentives for investment in Toshka-related areas include tax exemptions, customs exemptions, and low land prices. Economic and environmental impacts remain under potential study.