2nd in less than a week..Egypt announces new gas discovery

CAIRO - 15 January 2022: A new gas discovery in Egypt was announced earlier on Sunday to be the second of its kind in less than a week, which supports the state's gas reserves, as part of its continuous efforts to explore for fossil fuels.

 

The Italian company, Eni, announced Sunday morning a new gas discovery at the Nargis-1 exploration well located in Nargis Offshore Area Concession, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, offshore Egypt.

 

 

The company stated that the Nargis-1 well has encountered approximately 200 net feet (61 m) of Miocene and Oligocene gas bearing sandstones and was drilled in 1,014 feet (309 m) of water by the Stena Forth drillship. The discovery can be developed leveraging the proximity to Eni’s existing facilities.

 

 

The data announced by the company stated that the Nargis-1 confirms the validity of Eni’s focus on Egypt Offshore, which the company will further develop thanks to the recent award of exploration blocks North Rafah, North El Fayrouz, North East El Arish, Tiba and Bellatrix-Seti East.

 

This comes less than a week after the announcement of a gas discovery in Egypt by the German company Wintershall Dea, on Thursday, Jan. 12, in one of its concession areas in the Nile Delta.

 

More about Eni’s new gas discovery 

 

Egypt’s Nargis Offshore Area concession is ~445,000 acres (1,800 square kilometers). 

 

Chevron Holdings C Pte. Ltd. is the operator with a 45 percent interest, while Eni’s wholly owned Affiliate IEOC Production BV holds a 45 percent and Tharwa Petroleum Company SAE holds a 10 percent interest.

 

Eni has been present in Egypt since 1954, where it operates through the subsidiary IEOC. The company is currently the country's leading producer with an equity production of hydrocarbons of approximately 350,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

 

In line with the net-zero strategy by 2050, Eni is engaged in a series of initiatives aimed at decarbonizing the Egyptian energy sector, including the development of CCS plants, renewable energy plants, agro feedstock for bio refining and others.

 

 

In October, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek el Molla underscored the importance of enhancing successful partnership with Italy's Eni company in oil and gas production and exploration.

 

Molla added efforts are now focused on capitalizing on promising opportunities and potentials in the country to up production rates and upgrade the main structure.

 

 

A previous gas discovery in Egypt

 

The German company Wintershall Dea had announced - on Jan 12 - its latest gas discoveries in Egypt, in one of its concession areas in the Nile Delta.

 

Well ED-2X, located 3 km north of the Disouq field, has tested production from the new discovery, peaking at 15 million standard cubic feet per day.

 

The discovery is currently being evaluated to serve as a link with the infrastructure in the city of Disouq, near Kafr El-Sheikh.

 

The German company began exploration work in eastern Damanhour in November 2021, and the new discovery is the second exploration well in the license.

 

The Wintershall Dea has a share of 40% of the concession area, and the rest of the shares are distributed between Cairn Energy, INA, and the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS).

 

Egyptian liquefied gas exports

 

Egypt's natural and liquefied gas exports hiked to $7.8 billion, during the period (January-October 2022), ranking Egypt the first in the Arab world. 

 

Egypt has about 2.21 trillion cubic meters of proven gas reserves, and produced more than 95 billion cubic meters, starting in 2021, with exports reaching 12 billion cubic meters in that year, which represents an annual increase of 58 percent.

 

Exports increased even further last year (2022), thanks in particular to gas shortages in Europe; Most of the liquefied gas exports go to the old continent, according to what was reported by the "Oil Price" platform.

 

In the 8 years until 2022, gas export revenues in Egypt increased 13 times, with the same exports inflating 4 times during this period, and production increased in the past 8 years by more than 66%.