Dana Gas, the Middle East’s first and largest regional private sector natural gas company, has announced that production from the recently discovered Sondos gas field has delivered outstanding results.

The Sondos field, found in the West El Manzala concession in Egypt’s Nile Delta region, was discovered in February 2009, with estimated gas reserves of 20 billion cubic feet, and was tested at 11.1 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of dry gas.  It currently has two producing wells, “Sondos-1” and “Sondos-2”, delivering at an average daily rate of 12 mmscfd.

Commenting on the occasion, Dana Gas Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ahmed Al Arbeed said: “Weare delighted with the new discovery, which is a new addition to the series of discoveries achieved by the company in 2008 and 2009 as a result of Dana Gas’ aggressive drilling campaign in Egypt. The drilling campaign achieved excellent results so far, promising to add momentum to the company’s 2009 production in Egypt”.

Mr. Al Arbeed added “The discovery of the Sondos gas field was particularly significant for Dana Gas, as it is set to push the company’s production rate beyond 37,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) – its peak production rate for the first half of 2009 – compared to the 31,650 boepd on which the company’s Egyptian operations ended in 2008”.

The Sondos Field project’s schedule was fast-tracked, which took less than a month to complete. This was carried out by tying the two wells into the existing gas pipeline, to deliver the gas to the company’s South El Manzala Plant.

On this occasion Dr. Hany El-Sharkawi, President of Dana Gas Egypt said: “The discovery of the Sondos Field was an exciting one for us, and serves as proof of the effectiveness of Dana Gas’ aggressive drilling campaign in Egypt. We are delighted with the results achieved in a short period which exceeded all expectations. These promising results will continue to boost the company’s production.”

In addition to its activities at the Sondos Field, Dana Gas has also increased gas production at its El Basant Field, following the successful completion of the “El Basant-3” development well in June 2009.

(Dana Gas Press Release)