Gas production of 2 wells at 9B field to begin in October

CAIRO – 6 August 2018: The production oftwo wells at Phase 9B of the West Delta Deep Marine (WDDM) concession will start during the first half of next October with a capacity up to 100 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, an official source at the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) told Egypt Today.

“The whole project, including digging other productive eight wells and two exploration wells, will be completed in the third quarter of 2019 with an output of 400 million cubic feet per day,” the source added.

Minister of Petroleum affirmed the information on Friday by saying that the production of natural gas from two deep-water wells at Shell’s West Nile Delta field 9B in Egypt will begin in the first half of October.

The WDDM concession in the Mediterranean Sea comprises of 19 gas fields, of which 12 fields – Scarab, Saffron, Simian, Sienna, Sapphire, Serpent, Saurus, Sequoia, SimSat-P2, Sapsat-1, Sapsat-2 and Swan – are in production. The fields are located at water depths ranging from 700 to 850 metersand approximately 90 to 120kilimeters from the shore.

Molla announced earlier that Egypt may stop importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the fourth quarter of this year.

Egypt plans to turn into a regional hub of natural gas after the latest gas discoveries, including West Delta’s Taurus and Libra fields, as well as the Atoll and Zohr gas fields.

In 2015, Eni discovered Zohr gas field, the biggest gas field in the Mediterranean, with an estimated production of 30 trillion cubic feet.

Egypt expects to attract $10 billion both this year and next year in foreign investment in its oil and gas industry, he said.

Egypt produces 5.1 billion cubic feet of gas daily after several fields have started production. The country consumes around six billion cubic feet of gas a day, 65 percent of which go to the electricity sector.