Upper Egypt has recently witnessed increasing oil and gas activities, with many projects in E&P, refining, distribution, and natural gas. As a continuation of our efforts over the past 11 years of the company’s lifetime, GANOPE has managed to achieve significant successes in the vitally important area that Upper Egypt is; an area that comprises two third’s of the country’s total.
GANOPE believes its success in increasing the number of petroleum agreements in its operational areas is the most important indicator of its increasing investments. GANOPE has also seen much investment in the field of research and exploration. Accordingly, the company has identified future objectives and policy as follows:
• Increase foreign investment opportunities, especially in the field of research and exploration by launching more international bid rounds to assign a proper number of exploration blocks.
• Initiate plan to acquire gravity, magnetic and seismic surveys for onshore and offshore operation areas by using SPEC.
• Follow-up exploration and production activities in the work areas of GANOPE through petroleum agreements signed with different international partners.
• Exploit non-conventional resources, particularly oil shale, in collaboration with companies with expertise in the field to share their experience in conducting pilot projects. In particular, GANOPE will evaluate resources of the Safaga, Al-Qusair, and Abo-Tartour regions. This will also assist in setting an agreement model with economic feasibility for all parties concerned.
To maximize area covered with research and exploration concession agreements in GANOPE’s work areas—extending from latitude 28° North to Latitude 22° South and from the eastern Red Sea to the western Libyan border—several international bid rounds have been announced, resulting in 25 concession agreements issued by laws since the establishment of GANOPE. By mid-FY 2014/2015, the number of current petroleum agreements was 17 agreements, covering total area of about 144,000 square km and with minimum total expenditure commitments reaching $500 million for the exploration period. Five companies relinquished concessions according to the terms of the petroleum agreements.
The count of exploratory wells has reached 102, bringing total implemented investments to about $377 million, with the drilling of 23 exploratory and development wells.
On December 30, 2014, Ganope launched International Bid Round-1, including 10 exploration blocks in the southern Gulf of Suez, East Nile, and West Nile ( Nuqra & Komombo).
For petroleum discoveries and oil production; the beginning of oil production of GANOPE was in December 2007 from the El-Baraka oil field (KOPCO). Other commercial discoveries have followed in El-Barka and West El-Baraka fields in the Komombo concession. By the middle of FY 2013/2014, the cumulative production of KOPCO fields reached about one million barrels of crude oil. This reaffirms the continuity of production since 2007. Crude oil is shipped regularly to the Assiut refinery.
The petroleum discovery of the West Esh El-Malaha Extension concession area by Petromallaha Co., has followed as the production from the well WEEME A-1, started in February of 2010. By the end of December 2014 cumulative production reached about 386,000 barrels of crude oil, 45,000 of which were produced during FY2013/2014. In addition to drilling the exploratory well, WEEME A-3 is also a successful well, with an average production rate 520 b/d. Total production rate of Petromallaha Co., has reached 630 b/d. A reservoir survey is currently being conducted for the West Esh El-Mallaha Extensions field to select future development drilling sites.
Furthermore, in coordination with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, EGPC, the number of joint venture companies under GANOPE supervision is ten, along with an additional three; Petrokareem, PetroNefertiti, and PetroSafwa, added according to the contract with EGPC since July 2013. The other current companies are; Eshpetco, Zeitco, PetroAmir, Magawish, Petrozeit, Waspetco & Petrogulf Misr. The cumulative production of crude oil from these companies was about 12 million barrels during FY2013/2014, with an average production rate of 33,000 b/d.
In coordination with EGPC, GANOPE has succeeded in fullfilling Upper Egypt needs for petroleum products, especially fuel oil. The Assiut refinery contributed to about 78.5% of Upper Egypt’s petroleum product consumption. The refinery also covered about 77.7% of fuel oil consumption. GANOPE has supplied about 6.42 million tons of petroleum products for Upper Egyptian needs, during FY2013/2014, with an increase of approximately 370,000 tons compared to last year’s consumption.
Throughout 2013/2014, Nile Petroleum Marketing Company, an affiliate of GANOPE, established and operated three new vehicle fueling and service stations, one in Sohag and two in the Red Sea governorates. This brings the total number of stations built since 2006 up to 52. Nevertheless, the Nile Company distributed 12% of gasoline demands (all grades), and 16% of fuel oil demands for Upper Egyptian governorates and 91% of VIP customer requirements of fuel oil. The Nile Company also supplies the Assiut, Sohag, and El-Alamin international airports with jet fuel. 23 additional stations are expected to be in service within FY2015/2016, bringing the total number of stations to 75.
In coordination with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), GANOPE took big steps forward, as natural gas was connected to about 485,000 residential customers, 1,290 commercial customers, and 80 factories, by December 2014.
GANOPE is keen to implement the minister of petroleum’s mandate number 577 for 2014, which calls for the forming of an expenditure rationalization committee aiming to optimize expenditure without affecting production rates. GANOPE has implemented this policy through its affiliate and sister companies. The expenditure reports of the mentioned companies reflect the necessary procedures taken towards rationalization. Alternative initiatives are welcomed for development and the reallocation of resources.
A high priority for GANOPE is our Safety, Occupational Health, and Environment Department. The department has established an integrated auditing and inspection plan for GANOPE and its affiliates to assure property safety conditions are followed. The department is also responsible for monitoring environmental pollutant control procedures for all GANOPE operating areas; including the East and Western Desert, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Suez. Rules for Environmental Impact Assessment Studies were also set for future projects of affiliate companies. As a result of these efforts, we achieved a total of 992,426 working hours without any occupational injuries or fire incidents, during the first half of FY2014/2015.
For training, GANOPE provides various opportunities to develop employee technical and personal skills to enhance our organizational performance.
Finally, I seize this opportunity to express my thanks to the Minister of Petroleum & Mineral Resources for his support and appreciation for the efforts exerted by all the employees of GANOPE. I would also like to state that we all—employees and board members—express our commitment to achieving oil and gas E&P booms; to further develop the Assiut refinery, and to increase natural gas connection rates to residential and commercial customers. All to add to the development of Upper Egypt in line with the Egyptian petroleum sector strategy.
Chairman,
Abu Bakr Ibrahim.
Source: GANOPE Press Release
