Eni announces the start of Zohr’s second line production

CAIRO – 26 April 2018: Italian Energy Company Eni announced Thursday the start of the second production line of Zohr gas field, according to Reuters.

Production of the field is scheduled to reach 1.2 billion cubic feet per day in May and two billion cubic feet per day by the end of 2018, amassing 2.7 billion cubic feet per day.

An official source at the petroleum sector said earlier this month that Egypt plans to boost production from its giant offshore Zohr gas field to 700 million cubic feet a day in May and to 1.8 billion cubic feet a day in September.

He said that pre-operation tests have been initiated for the field’s first and second production lines and that mechanical and electrical installations for both lines are almost complete.

The second line is scheduled to enter production with a capacity of 350 million cubic feet a day, while the third and fourth lines will enter production in July and August respectively, bringing total production from the field to 1.4 billion cubic feet a day.

In 2015, Italian energy company Eni discovered 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 company in December delivered the first gas production from Zohr field. The field is estimated to be 30 trillion cubic feet, making it the biggest gas field in the Mediterranean.

Petroleum Minister Tarek el-Molla said in previous statements that Egypt increased its gas production by some 1.6 cubic feet a day in the last year after starting production in four main fields, including West Delta’s Taurus and Libra fields as well as Atoll and Zohr gas fields.

Egypt’s gas production currently stands at 5.5 billion cubic feet a day, after adding some 1.6 million cubic feet as a result of starting production from the aforementioned projects.

The country's total natural gas consumption is about six 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.

Egypt plans to stop importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) by the end of the 2017/18 fiscal year ending in June as it accelerates production at a number of newly-discovered gas fields, Molla said in January.