Total Zohr investments seen surging to $15.6B

CAIRO – 16 August 2017: Investments of the Mediterranean’s largest gas field, Zohr, will jump to $15.6B after works on the project conclude, Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla said on Wednesday.

While paying a field visit to the offshore field, Molla said that the initial investments planned for the project value at $12 billion.

Total investments spent on Zohr so far amount to $3.8 billion, head of the project’s local operator Belayim Petroleum Company (Petrobel) Atef Hassan said last week.

Works of Zohr gas processing plant are 81 percent complete, Atef noted, adding that Petrojet and Petroleum Marine Services finished manufacturing and installing Zohr’s marine control pier ahead of schedule.

The Zohr gas field is the largest natural gas field found in the Mediterranean and was discovered in 2015 by the Italian energy company Eni. The field has an area of 100 square meters at a depth of 1,450 meters.

It will start production through three phases. The first will be launched in a few months with an output of one billion cubic feet per day (ft2). When all seven fields are complete by 2019, this amount will increase to 2.7 billion ft2.