Eni announces 2nd oil discovery in Egyptian Western Desert

CAIRO – 9 July 2018: The Italian Company Eni announced a second oil discovery in the Egyptian Western Desert.

Eni clarified in a press release that the new discovery is on the B1-X exploration prospect located in South West Meleiha license, 130 kilometers north of the oasis of Siwa.

It added that the well is the second one drilled by Eni to explore the deep geological sequences of the Faghur Basin.

“SWM B1-X has been drilled 7 kilometers away from the first discovery (SWM A2-X), to a total depth of 4,523 meters and encountered 35 meters net of light oil in the Paleozoic sandstones of Dessouky Formation of Carboniferous age and in the Alam El Bueib sandstones of Cretaceous Age,” the release stated.

It further noted that the production of the well has been started in the Dessouky sandstones and delivered 5,130 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) of light oil (37° API) with low associated gas.

According to the company’s release, the production is expected to be routed to already existing infrastructures and then shipped to El Hamra Terminal through existing pipelines, after development plan approval by Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

Eni commented on this discovery by saying that it confirms the high exploration and production potential of deep geological sequences of the Faghur Basin.

In the short term, it also plans to drill other exploratory prospects located nearby the A2-X and B-1X discoveries to consolidate what can result in a new productive area for Eni in Egypt.

International Egyptian Oil Company (IEOC), the subsidiary of Eni, owns 100 percent stake in South West Meleiha license.

The press release noted that IEOC currently produces 55,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the Egyptian Western Desert.

The production takes place through IEOC’s Operating Company Agiba, which is equally held by IEOC and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).

In 2015, Eni discovered Zohr gas field, the biggest gas field in the Mediterranean, with an estimated production of 30 trillion cubic feet.

The second phase of Zohr gas field will add around 2 billion cubic feet per day to Egypt's production and will be completed before the end of the year, according to the minister of petroleum.