Tarek El-Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, held the second monthly meeting with the higher committee which included the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), Petrobel (Belayim Petroleum Company), and Eni S.p.A to follow up on the implementation phases of the Zohr field and evaluate the development of operations as per the timeline in place, Egypt Oil&Gas reported.

During the meeting, a presentation was held on the operations development of well drilling in Zohr field and the evaluation of the three wells which were drilled. The results showed positive indications. A presentation also took place on the plan for drilling a fourth well, for which operations have started, within the timeframe of Phase I. The phase includes the drilling of 6 wells, with investments worth $4b of the total investments for the project at $12b.

The minister stated that the periodic meetings held with the higher committee of Zohr field development aim at the constant and first-hand review on the rate of operation development, in order to abide by the timeline and to finalize Phase I, to be able to add it to the production map by the end of 2017. The production map will include 1bcf of gas on a daily basis, which will increase within two years to reach a production peak roughly at 2.7bcf/d, positively reflecting on the Egyptian natural gas production rates and contributing to filling the current gap between production and consumption.

Mohamed Al-Masry, Head of EGAS, Tarek El Hadidi, CEO of EGPC, and Atef Hassan, Head of Petrobel attended the meeting. From the Italian side, Adriano Mongini, Executive Vice President North Africa, Antonio Vella, Chief Upstream Officer, and Roberto Casula, Chief Development, Operations & Technology Officer were present.