CAIRO- Production from Egypt's huge offshore Zohr field in the Mediterranean will reach 2.9 billion cubic feet per day by mid-2019, Italy's Eni ENI.MI said on Monday.

Speaking at an industry event in Cairo, CEO Claudio Descalzi said the goal was to reach output of 1.8 bcf to 2 bcf per day by the end of 2018 and then ramp up to 2.9 bcf per day by mid-2019.

Discovered in 2015 by Eni, the field contains an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Descalzi confirmed that by mid-2019, seven trains would be operating.

Egypt has been seeking to speed up production from recently discovered fields, with an eye to halting imports by 2019 and achieving self-sufficiency.

(Reporting By Eric Knecht and Nadine Awadallah; Writing By Maha El Dahan; Editing by Adrian Croft) ((Maha.Dahan@thomsonreuters.com; + 9712 4082101; Reuters Messaging: maha.dahan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))