Rashid Petroleum (Rashpetco) and Burullus Gas Co. completed the fourth phase of the renovation and development held in the deep water area, worth $350 million.
A total of 28 producing wells were included in this phase, through which equipments, control devices and a distribution platform were installed in deep waters. Saipem, a subsidiary of Italian ENI S.p.A carried out the installation work in deep water for Rashid and Burullus, with equipments manufactured in the workshops of Petrobel and Petrojet.
The renovation tasks are to add 30 million cubic feet of gas per day; 14% more than the current production which accounts for 380 million cubic feet per day compared to 275 million cubic feet per day in January 2001. The technical tests for the fourth phase are scheduled to be completed by the end of this month.
Rashid and Burullus pointed out that the development operations conducted in their fields are of great importance as these fields are classified as the largest producers of natural gas. Their average daily production accounts for more than 4.2 billion cubic feet of gas which is 45% of the total domestic production.
The expected gas increase is to be distributed equally for exportation and the fulfillment of the increasing domestic gas demand. It is worth mentioning that Rashpetco and Burullus Gas Co. are owned by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) along with the Egyptian Holding Natural Gas Company (Egas), British Gas, Italian Edisson and Malaysian Petronas.
Rashpetco and Brullus have previously succeeded in increasing the production volume of Scarab/Mesafroun field, the first field to be developed in the deep water in Egypt and the Middle East, to reach 900 million cubic feet of gas. The two companies have also developed the fields of Saipem and Safir and hit 1,400 million cubic feet of gas per day that are exported to France, Italy and the U.S.A.

At present, Rashpetco and Burullus are evaluating the volume of reserves of their most recent petroleum discoveries in the area of West Delta in the deep water of the Mediterranean Sea; 120 km from the beach, 75 meters in depth. This is the first time to discover crude petroleum with such large width in this area.

By: Ashraf Said