Eni and BP have announced a new natural gas discovery in Great Nooros Area which is located in the Abu Madi West Development Lease, in the conventional waters of the Nile Delta, offshore Egypt, a statement issued by Eni reported.

The preliminary evaluation of the well results indicates that the Great Nooros Area gas in place can be estimated in excess of 4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf).

The company explained that the new discovery was achieved through the Nidoco NW-1 exploratory well discovered in July 2015. The Nidoco NW-1 exploratory well is located 16 meters of water depth, 5 km from the coast and 4 km north from the Nooros field.

The discovery includes gas-bearing sands with total thickness of 100 meters, of which 50 meters within the Pliocene sands of the Kafr-El-Sheik formations and 50 meters within the Messinian age sandstone of the Abu Madi formations. The new level of Abu Madi formations, which was not yet encountered in the Nooros field, unlocks high potential of the Great Nooros Area, with further extension of the gas potential to the North of the field.

Eni, together with its partner BP, which is the contractor member for this area, in coordination with the Egyptian petroleum sector, will start studying the development options of this new discovery and how to utilize such cooperation as well as the area’s infrastructure.

Eni, through its subsidiary IEOC, holds a 75% stake in the license of Abu Madi West Development Lease, while BP holds the remaining 25% stake. The operator is Petrobel, a 50:50 joint venture between IEOC and the state company Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC).