EGYPT –  A consortium of oil and gas drilling companies led by Italy’s Eni have discovered new gas deposits with a potential of producing 32MMscfd of Gas in Egypt’s offshore region.

The announcement of the new discovery was made by Egypt’s Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Tarek El Molla who further noted that gas was discovered in a well drilled in Bashrush, in the North El Hammad concession.

The North El Hammad concession is located in the conventional Egyptian waters of the Nile Delta at a site operated by Italian energy giant Eni.

British and French partners British Petroleum and Total, are also part of the Block’s owners who take part as contractor members.

The site owners in coordination with Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), will set up a field development plan with the aim of fast-tracking production through synergies with the area’s existing infrastructures, the minister said.

Egypt holds 77 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven gas reserves as of 2017, ranking 16th in the world and accounting for about 1% of the world’s total natural gas reserves of 6,923 Tcf.

Egypt like many other Arab nation bestow great importance to Oil and gas which form a significant source of revenue for these countries.

There are currently more than 50 international oil companies working in Egypt with Italy’s ENI is the most prominent of these.

ENI was particularly critical in the discovery of the much-publicized Zohr gas field in 2015 describing it as a “world class supergiant gas discovery,”.

With an estimated capacity of 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, ENI described Zohr  as “the largest gas discovery ever made in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Sea and could become one of the world’s largest natural-gas finds.”

Recent discoveries of gas which have exceeded 20 as at 2020, have pushed Egypt to the top of the energy production ladder.

Egypt is now Africa’s top non-OPEC oil producer, and third largest natural gas producer after Algeria and Nigeria.

Eni, the major player in Egypt energy sector, has been present in Egypt since 1954, and has a current equity production of above 300,000 boepd.

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