Apex International Energy has provided an update on operations from the six concessions in the Western Desert oil producing region of Egypt acquired from IEOC Production B.V. (IEOC), a unit of Eni S.p.A., in the first half of 2023.

As previously announced, Apex acquired all of IEOC’s interests in the Ras Qattara, West El Razzak, East Kanayis and West Abu Gharadig concessions, which it operates through Farah Petroleum Company (PetroFarah), the joint venture operating company of Apex and the Egyptian General Petroleum Company (EGPC). The closing of the acquisition for the last of these interests, West Abu Gharadig, occurred in June 2023, and Apex assumed full operation of the acquired assets July 1, 2023. Apex also acquired a 25% interest in the IEOCoperated East Obaiyed and South West Meleiha concessions.

As of July 1, 2023, Apex’s organically developed working interest production in Southeast Meleiha (SEM) stood at 7,100 barrels per day, and the incremental working interest production added by the acquired assets stood at 2,900 barrels per day (bbl/d), giving Apex a combined working interest production in the Western Desert of 10,000 bbl/d.

In July 2023, Apex launched a 32-well workover and well repair program in the Aghar, Raml, Faras and Zarif fields. This program encompasses recompletions and returning the wells to production and has to date resulted in a 1,000 bbl/d increase in oil production to 3,900 bbl/d, an increase of 34%.

In September 2023, Apex commenced reporting its first natural gas production with the startup of the Faramid gas project in IEOC-operated East Obaiyed, in which Apex has a 25% interest. Gas production is currently 24.4 million cubic feet per day, or 4,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), of which 1,000 boe/d is attributable to Apex.

In total, Apex’s working interest production is now 11,100 boe/d, which includes 4,800 boe/d from the acquired assets. This places Apex among the top 10 liquids producers in Egypt and top 10 among all producers in the Western Desert. From the commencement of production from SEM in August 2021 to present, including the acquired assets, Apex has achieved an overall 203% annualized CAGR in working interest production.

“The addition of the six acquired concessions, the comprehensive workover program executed by our team in the acquired fields and the start-up of the Faramid gas project have contributed to increasing our working interest production by 62%, or 4,200 boe/d, since the beginning of the year,” said Thomas Maher, Apex’s President and CEO.

“Importantly, these increases have been accomplished without a lost-time incident and while lowering unit operating costs by 20%, which is a tribute to the dedication and hard work of the Apex and PetroFarah teams,” Maher said. “Our engineers and geoscientists have identified additional workover candidates, and with the continuation of our ongoing development and exploration drilling campaign, we look forward to further increases in production in the coming months.”