El Salmiya-1 tests at a cumulative rate of 5,600 boepd

Kuwait Energy plc and their main partner, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), today announced a new oil discovery, the El Salmiya-1 well, in the Abu Sennan concession located in the Western Desert in Egypt.

Kuwait Energy is one of the fastest growing independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the Middle East.

This is the fourth exploration success in the Abu Sennan concession following the GPZZ-4 and Al Ahmadi-1 gas and condensate wells discovered in August 2011, and the Al-Jahraa-1X oil well discovered in January 2012.

The El Salmiya-1 well initial testing showed commercial flow rates at the Abu Roash “E” Member and Abu Roash “C” Member levels. The well showed rates of 400 barrels of oil per day (bopd) at the level of the Abu Roash “E” Member, while the Abu Roash “C” Member level showed rates of 2,500 bopd and 17 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd).   The total tested flow rate from both Abu Roash “C” Member and Abu Roash “E” Member is equivalent to approximately 5,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).

Kuwait Energy is the operator of the concession and holds a 50% working interest. The remaining working interest is held by Beach Petroleum (Egypt) Pty Ltd (22% working interest) and Dover Investments Limited (28% working interest).

The new discovery brings the total number of Kuwait Energy discoveries in Egypt to 16 since the start of its operations in 2008.

Kuwait Energy plc Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sara Akbar, said, “This is another milestone for Kuwait Energy and the Egyptian energy sector; a milestone that we are very proud of crossing.  The Abu Sennan concession looks promising with four exploration wells yielding finds to date and we look forward to continuing our exploratory activities as planned for 2012.”

Egyptian operations contribute the largest share to Kuwait Energy’s total working interest production today, comprising 17,500 boepd as of year-end 2011.  The 2011 production level excludes the discoveries made in the Abu Sennan concession.

Kuwait Energy is the operator of three blocks in Egypt namely the Area A, Burg El Arab development lease and Abu Sennan concession, and has working interest share in two other blocks, Mesaha concession and Petroshahd development lease (East Ras Qattara).