The Ruby-3 (Ji 50-2) exploration well is located within the offshore West Mediterranean Deep Water concession, approximately 66 kilometres from the Egyptian coast. The well was drilled in 920m water depth and reached its total depth at 1957m. Gas bearing sandstones were penetrated in the Pliocene section as prognosed. Evaluation of the drilling results is ongoing in order to estimate the amount of gas resources and their implication to RWE Dea’s portfolio. RWE Dea has a 20% working interest in the concession, whereas the remaining 80% is held by Operator BP.Ruby-3 was the last of six exploration and appraisal wells drilled by BP and RWE Dea within the West Nile Delta (WND) in 2008. The well penetrated one segment of the so-called Maadi prospect which extends into other concessions, in all of which RWE Dea holds substantial shares. “With gas proven in the Ruby-3 well, chances increase that more gas may be discovered in the other, so far undrilled segments of Maadi”, explained Hans-Hermann Andreae, General Manager of RWE Dea Egypt. “However, prior to further appraisal of Maadi we will focus on development of several of the other gas fields discovered in the West Nile Delta area. These fields have been discovered earlier and some of them were successfully appraised in 2008.”