Italian giant Eni and the Egyptian Government entered into an agreement for three amendments for the IEOC concessions, both onshore and offshore Egypt that will see the Italian giant make an additional investment of more than US$2 billion in the next four years.
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Image from Eni. |
The government granted Eni amendments for two offshore areas: North Port Said in the Mediterranean, and Baltim in partnership with BP, offshore Nile Delta. Eni also signed a new concession agreement with France’s ENGIE for Ashrafi in the Gulf of Suez.
“The agreements will lead to investment for more than $2 billion for the realization of projects to be implemented in the next four years and will contribute effectively to the increasing energy needs of Egyptian local demand,” Eni said in a statement. “Furthermore, they represent the positive conclusion of a first set of agreements that were defined in the heads of agreement (HoA) signed during the Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm El Sheikh last March.”
Three other agreements that were included in the HoA have been finalized, with approvals expected before year-end.
According to Eni, some of the activities envisaged are currently in the execution phase and one additional well in Baltim concession is already in production.
In October, Eni gained two licenses in the 2015 EGAS bid round, North El Hammad and North Ras El Esh, which are located in in the shallow waters of the Mediterranean Sea, facing the Nile Delta and located southwest of the Temsah area and west of the Baltim area, where the Italian giant operates existing fields and production facilities.
In August, Eni discovered Egypt’s largest gas field to date, the Zohr field, which could hold up to 30 Tcf of lean gas in place, or 5.5 billion boe, over approximately 100sq km.
The Zohr 1X NFW discovery well, located in the Shorouk Block (Block 9) at 4757ft (1450m) water depth, was drilled to a total depth of about 13,553ft (4131m) and hit 2067ft (630m) of hydrocarbon column in a carbonate sequence of Miocene age with excellent reservoir characteristics. Zohr’s structure has also a deeper Cretaceous upside that will be targeted in the future with a dedicated well, Eni said.
According to IHS Energy, Zohr has the potential to supply much of Egypt’s increasing domestic gas demand and will likely have an impact on regional gas commercialization plans. In addition, the technical, commercial, and strategic implications of Zohr is estimated to impact Egypt, the region and the industry, where Egypt’s access to monetization infrastructure will likely put it ahead of rivals if commercial terms are right.
In June, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. (EGPC) and Eni entered into a US$2 billion deal for exploration and development activities offshore Egypt.
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