Eni Aims to Add 120 Million Cubic Feet of Gas Daily from Egypt's Zohr Field

SadaNews - The Italian company "Eni" aims to add about 120 million cubic feet of new gas daily and 160 barrels of condensates daily to the production of the "Zohr" field in the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt by next June, by completing the isolation works of the water-producing layers in two wells in the field, according to a government official who spoke to "Asharq", asking not to be named.

The official, who spoke with "Asharq", estimated the cost of isolating the water in the two wells at about 20 million dollars, after water flowed into the producing layers of the field.

"Eni" did not respond to requests from "Asharq" for comment, nor did the "Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum" respond to requests for comment.

According to the official, the reactivation of the two wells will contribute to compensating for part of the decline in gas production from the largest field in the country after a decrease in its output compared to the peak levels the field previously recorded. The average production of the "Zohr" field currently stands at about 1.2 billion cubic feet per day, compared to a peak production recorded by the field in 2019 of about 3.2 billion cubic feet per day.

One-Third of Production

Egypt relies on increasing the production of the "Zohr" field to ease import pressures, in light of the financial pressures the country is facing, as the field currently contributes about 30% of the total natural gas production. The average natural gas production in the country is currently less than 4 billion cubic feet per day, against a domestic demand that rises to about 7 billion cubic feet per day during the summer months, prompting Cairo to increase gas imports to cover the gap between production and consumption.

Egypt consumes petroleum products annually worth nearly one trillion Egyptian pounds (about 19 billion dollars), with about 60% of it going to operate power generation stations, according to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in previous media statements.

New Explorations

Regarding new explorations in "Zohr", the official who spoke to "Asharq" mentioned that "Eni" is currently conducting gas research and exploration in shallower geological layers within the concession area, after preliminary indications emerged of gas quantities at a depth of about one thousand meters below the seabed, compared to the current reservoir being produced from a depth of up to 4,000 meters.

He pointed out that the company recently completed a seismic survey in those layers, and its results showed promising indicators for the presence of new accumulations of natural gas.

This comes after "Eni" pledged to invest 8 billion dollars in Egypt over the next three years, according to Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, who also confirmed his country’s commitment to settle the remaining dues of foreign oil companies, amounting to about 714 million dollars, before the end of next June.