British Petroleum (BP) announced in a press release that it made a new gas discovery in the North Damietta Offshore Concession in the East Nile Delta, Egypt.

The Qattameya Shallow-1 exploration well was drilled to a total depth of 1,961 meters in water depth of approximately 108 meters using the El Qaher II jack-up rig.

Qattameya Shallow-1 well is located 60km north of Damietta city, 30km southwest of Salamat and only 35km to the west of Ha’py offshore facilities.

The wire line logs, pressure data and fluid samples confirmed the presence of 37 meters of net gas pay in high quality pliocene sandstones. Options to tie the discovery back to nearby infrastructure are being studied.

BP’s CEO, Bob Dudley, said: “Qattameya marks our third discovery in the block where we are already developing the Atoll field and appraising the Salamat discovery. This latest discovery confirms our belief that the Nile Delta is a world-class basin.”

Additionally, BP’s North Africa Regional President, Hesham Mekawi, said: “We are delighted to sustain our success in these shallow Pliocene targets. We believe development of Qattameya could help unlock the resources in other nearby discoveries with similar shallow low-pressure characteristics.  This is part of our long-standing commitment to Egypt and to unlocking Egypt’s energy potential.”