Cheiron has announced a new oil discovery in the Geisum and Tawila West concession area in the Gulf of Suez.

The operations in the field are managed by the joint venture PetroGulf Egypt, on behalf of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), owning 50%, and the partners Cheiron, PICO, and KUFPEC 50%.

The discovery was made through the exploration well of GNN-11, and the well encountered 165 feet of net vertical strata of high quality in the Nubian Formation dating back to the pre-Miocene era.

This is the first time that the Nuba Crude Oil-Bearing Formation has been found in the concession area, and the main producing reservoir of the field is located in the Nakhil Formation.

The well was drilled through the recently installed early production facility in the North Geisum field and the well was successfully put on production at a rate of over 2,500 barrels per day (bbl/d).

As a result of the new well and the successful drilling program, the total crude oil production has reached about 23,000 bbl/d compared to about 4,000 bbl/d per day before the development of the North Geisum field. The well is the fourth well to be completed through the early production facilities.

It is worth noting that three more wells can be drilled through the early production facilities. They will be used to complete the current phase of the exploration drilling program and the development of the concession area.

Additionally, Cheiron and KUFPEC plan to drill an additional number of exploratory wells in the concession area and expand GNN field development activities