Badr El Din Petroleum Company (BAPETCO) plans to drill a total of 31 exploratory wells starting the second half of fiscal year (FY) 2017/2018 until the end of FY 2018/2019, BAPETCO’s Head, Alaa Al Batal, stated, adding that the company’s budget plan for FY 2018/2019 aims at boosting petroleum activities in order to increase production and reserves, Egypt Oil & Gas reports.

BAPETCO has recently linked North Alam El Shaweish discovery to production facilities, three months ahead of schedule, with 30 million standard cubic feet per day (mscf/d) production capacity to boost Badr El Din natural gas total output to 448 mscf/d, Al Batal pointed out during the general assembly chaired by Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, to review BAPETCO’s budget plan for 2018/2019.

During the first half of FY 2017/2018, the production of Badr El Din fields, which are located in the Egyptian Western Desert, reached around 123,000 barrel of oil equivalent per day (boe/d). Additionally, the company has made two new discoveries with 8 million boe during the same period, Al Batal said.

BAPETCO plans to increase its fields’ production during the upcoming six months through implementing a program that aims to increase drilling rigs, boost wells maintenance, and increase the capacity of Niaj field’s facilities.

Al Batal stated that the health, safety, and environment (HSE) standards are met at Badr El Din fields through adopting the recent programs in the HSE field. Moreover, Al Batal pointed out the excellent performance achieved, as one of the drilling rigs at Badr El Din fields has been chosen as the most efficient drilling rig used in Shell’s activities globally.