Eni makes big gas discovery in onshore Egypt

Italy’s Eni has made a gas discovery in the Nile Delta region of Egypt with potential reserves of up to 15 bcm (530 bcf). The find took place in the Nooros exploration prospect inside the onshore Abu Madi West licence, around 120 kilometres northeast of Alexandria.

Eni’s drilling operation at the Nidoco NW2 Dir NFW reached a depth of 3,600 metres, uncovering a 60-metre-thick-gas-bearing sandstone interval of Messianian age. The deposit has “excellent petrophysical properties,” Eni said in a statement, with evidence of further gas layers in the overlying Pliocene section.

Eni has a 75-percent stake in the Abu Madi West licence through its Egyptian subsidiary, International Egyptian Oil Company, with BP holding the remaining 25 percent. Production at the new discovery is scheduled for mid-September, and will tie-in to the existing Abu Madi gas treatment facility located 25 kilometres southeast.

In July, Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum increased the price it pays Eni for natural gas they produce in the country. A month earlier, the ministry signed a $2-billion, four-year exploration deal with Eni covering the Sinai, Nile Delta, Suez and Port Said regions.

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