Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has released a report, which stated that placing four Nidoco exploratory wells on production line in the Abu Madi West license zone, in the Nile Delta, has increased country’s overall output levels to more than 300mcf/d of natural gas and 300,000bl/d of condensates.

The petroleum sector in Egypt has thus managed to accelerate the development of the Nidoco exploratory wells, according to the report, which was submitted to the ministry by the Head of Petrobel company, Eng. Atef Hassan, on behalf of EGPC, Eni, and BP.

The report further outlined the development processes. Drilling of the exploratory well Nidoco NW -2 was initiated in May 2015 and was brought into production line in August when it achieved levels of 85mcf/d. Additionally, the Nidoco NW -3 well was drilled in August 2015, which also achieved production of 85mcf/d. It was followed by drilling the Nidoco North 1X well with production amounting to 50mcf/d in April 2016. Lastly, drilling the fourth Nidoco NW-4 well came to produce 80mcf/d in May 2016.

The development is a result of a rapid strategy that was adopted when exploratory operations were initiated. Work continues to assess the concession area’s actual reserves through technical studies, based on which initial estimations of natural gas quantities in the area may exceed 1.7tcf of gas.