One of the development projects in Egypt is the Assil and Karam, which are major Non-Associated Gas (NAG) fields in the Alam Shawish West Block, onshore Egypt in the Western Desert

The Alam Shawish west block is located onshore Egypt in the western desert, approximately 300 km west of Cairo. The block includes seven discovered fields; Karam, Assil, Barq, Magd, Najm, Bahga, and Bahga SE. Oil deposits exist in all locations.

Production from the block commenced in December 2007, operated by VEGAS Oil and Gas de France Suez S.A. under the JV PetroAlam. There are currently some 10 oil wells producing an average of 2000-3000 bopd; however production is declining. The oil evacuated by trucks to the nearest terminal and associated gas flared.

On January 14th, 2010, Shell acquired a 40% working interest in the block. The revised interests in the block following the farm-in by Shell are: Shell Egypt N.V. (40%), VEGAS (35%) and GDF (25%). On April 13th, 2010, Badr Eldin Petroleum Company (BAPETCO) became the operating company of block, which represents a significant contribution to BAPETCO’s future production. BAPETCO is a joint venture between the EGPC and Shell, each with an equal 50% stake.

Production from BAPETCO’s existing assets is declining and ullage is becoming available in the existing BED-3 gas treating facilities equipped with gas dehydration and hydrocarbon dew pointing systems. BED-3 supplies sales specification gas to the Ameriya gas plant.

Concerning the Assil field, it is already producing through an existing temporary pipeline to BED-3 as part of the First Gas and Early Gas stages of the project, these stages have been completed on October 2010 (ahead of schedule) with gas production over 100 MMscf/d and with cost about $13 million.

The Assil full field development also includes replacement of the temporary Assil pipeline. Although the Assil gas is rich in CO2, it is low enough to process without the requirement of an amine plant.

On the other hand, the development program of the Karam field, which is rich NAG containing CO2, is in the third phase that includes design and construction of a CO2 removal plant (CRP), prior to further processing the gas and condensate at the existing BED-3 facilities to meet the export CO2 specification for transmitted treated gas through the export gas pipeline to the Ameriya gas plant.

The target of this stage is to increase the gas production up to 200 MMscf/d in 2013 and with estimate budget of $350 million.

The CRP shall tie into BED-3 production manifolds and some BED-3 utilities shall be extended / modified to support the CRP.

The Assil and Karam Development Project project contains

• Amine unit, including Amine drain system
• Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) and Incinerator system
• Storage tanks (not part of the PERMANENT WORK)
• Chemicals injection skid
• Pipe interconnection and cabling works
• Well Hook-ups
• Karam Manifold
• 12” (changed from 14”) Duplex St. St.  Pipelines with total length 24 Km
• 12” Carbon Steel Pipeline with total length 12 Km
• 8” Duplex St. St. with total length 11.3 Km

By Osama El-Sayed, Projects General Manager for investments and JVs, EGPC