Zohr works are progressing fast in August: Petrobel

CAIRO – 21 August 2017: Progress of development works of the Mediterranean’s largest gas field Zohr was given at a current rate of 83.5 percent, with $4 billion in investments so far.

At the beginning of the month, Zohr works were 80 percent complete as stated by the Ministry of Petroleum, with $3.8 billion in investments.

In a meeting with the Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla to review financial results of Eni’s joint ventures, Chairman of Belayim Petroleum Company (Petrobel) Atef Hassan said that seven Zohr wells have already been drilled.

Petrobel produced 345,000 barrels of equivalent oil per day in fiscal year 2016/17 with $693 million in investments, Hassan told Molla.

Over the previous fiscal year, which ended in June, a number of 33 wells were drilled, including 27 wells in Sinai, 5 wells in the Nile Delta and a well on the Mediterranean, Hassan highlighted.

As for the new discoveries, Hassan said Nidoco and Baltim fields added a total of 868 billion cubic feet (ft2) of gas, 5 million barrels of condensates and 1.6 million barrels of crude.

Petrobel is also producing 77,500 barrels of oil per day from the Gulf of Suez fields after increasing exploitation of facilities and infrastructure to reduce costs.

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. When all seven fields are complete by 2019, this amount will increase to 2.7 billion ft2.