Rwe Dea will be investing 3.6 billion US-Dollars in the field development in the North Alexandria and West Mediterranean Deep Water concessions – the biggest single investment for the company to date. Jointly the Egyptian Petroleum Minister Sameh Fahmy, the Egyptian state owned company EGPC and the operator BP, RWE Dea signed the agreement which had been approved by the Egyptian Cabinet and the Egyptian parliament, in Cairo.

50 billion cubic meters plus in reserves of natural gas, the fields in the North Alexandria and West Mediterranean deep Water concessions are among the largest in RWE Dea’s portfolio.

Thomas Rappuhn, Chief Executive Officer of RWE Dea AG stated: “Our aim is to proceed with this field at a rapid pace, so that we can go into production by 2014. Amongst other field development projects of RWE Dea, such as Breagh in the United Kingdom and Gjøa in Norway, North Alexandria will make a substantial contribution to the company’s growth target, which is to double production over the next five years.”

The North Alexandria and West Mediterranean Deep Water concessions are located in the offshore region of the West Nile Delta, about 40 kilometres off the coast of Egypt.  Included are the Raven natural gas fields in the high temperature and high pressure depth domain which extends into the West Mediterranean Deep Water concession.  This project demands for high level of investment and deployment of leading edge technologies in developing these fields under highest safety and environmental standards.  Splitting the total investment, which is to be US$9 billion, BP (the operator stakes 60%) and RWE Dea (40% stake) which is most of the total investment to be spent on the North Alexandria concession. For RWE Dea, its share will represent the company’s biggest single investment, to be spent over the course of the project.

In the plateau phase to commence in 2015, over 3 billion cubic meters of gas (RWE Dea share) will be produced annually. Production is expected to be 20 years in the first phase. Development of further natural gas potential including already discovered gas volumes within the concession areas will take place in the second phase.