Noras field’s production jumps to 1.2 bcf/day

CAIRO – 17 April 2018: Gas production from the Noras gas field increased to around 1.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/day), according to Fabio Cavanna, general manager of the Italian-Egyptian Oil Company (IEOC), which is affiliated to the Italian oil company Eni.

This came during Cavanna’s speech at the ninth edition of the Mediterranean Offshore Conference and Exhibition (MOC 2018) in Alexandria.

Cavanna said that production from the Zohr gas field will be raised to coincide with the start of operations of the first and second lines at the gas treatment plant in April and May.

Belayim Petroleum Company (Petrobel) Chairman Atef Hassan announced at the end of March that the mechanical and electrical installation works of Zohr gas field’s first and second production lines are close to completion, while pre-operation tests have already been initiated.

Cavanna added that Zohr’s production is scheduled to gradually be doubled during the current year and reach its utmost production in 2019.

He mentioned the usage of modern technology that contributed to dealing with technical challenges at the Zohr gas field, especially drilling in water at a depth of 1,500 meters with great risks and difficulties.

He pointed out that Eni has been operating in Egypt since the early 1950s, having operated in the Belayem field in the Gulf of Suez, which is the oldest and largest crude oil field in Egypt. Its cumulative production since 1953 has so far reached more than 2.6 billion barrels of crude oil.

In 2015, Eni discovered the Zohr gas field in the Shorouk concession, approximately 190 kilometers north of Port Said in an area of 100 square meters (39 square miles) and at a depth of 1,450 meters (4,760 feet).

The total gas in place at the Zohr gas field is around 850 billion cubic meters (30 trillion cubic feet).

In addition to Zohr, Egypt accomplished three other gas production projects: Torres and Libra, Atoll, and Norse.

These four projects added 1.6 billion cubic feet of gas per day to raise Egypt’s daily production to 5.5 billion cubic feet per day.

The country's total natural gas consumption is about 6 billion cubic feet per day, of which roughly 65 percent goes to the electricity sector.

The new discoveries are expected to turn Egypt into a net exporter of natural gas, as the country is expected to halt gas imports by mid-2018.