Wintershall Dea strengthens its commitment to Egypt as Mario Mehren, CEO of Wintershall Dea, visits the country for the first time and meets with prominent government officials and industry leaders to discuss further cooperation, Egypt Oil & Gas reports.
Mehren met with the Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla, and the Managing Director of Wintershall Dea in Egypt Sameh Sabry, where he stated that the German company is eyeing increased investments in Egypt.
“We look back on very active 18 months in Egypt”, said Mehren. “We have already realized a good part of the upside potential in our own-operated assets Disouq and in the Gulf of Suez. Furthermore, the West Nile Delta project is progressing towards completing the development of the five fields by the end of this year. These achievements are indicative of our lasting and sustainable commitment to Egypt”, Mehren added. “We look forward to making further contributions to the development of the Egyptian energy sector, supporting the country on its way to become a regional energy hub.”
This comes as Wintershall Dea announced in early 2018 the start of an extensive work program in all of its operated Egyptian assets. The company is currently investing more than $500 million over three years (2018-2020), aiming to significantly boost its gas and oil production in the country.
Wintershall Dea is currently conducting a comprehensive work program for its Disouq onshore gas development project and the offshore oil fields in the Gulf of Suez. To achieve a significant ramp-up of production from the seven gas fields in Disouq, Wintershall Dea started an ambitious redevelopment program. It includes the completion and connection of nine existing wells to production, the drilling, completion, and connection of new development and exploratory wells and the development of a new field in the northwestern part.
To increase production from the mature oil fields in the Gulf of Suez, Wintershall Dea is currently carrying out a workover of existing wells, drilling side tracks and replacing existing pipelines with new ones with greater capacity. Additionally, Wintershall Dea is implementing a plan to maintain asset integrity through an active maintenance and replacement program.
Sabry said: “Joint interdisciplinary expert teams from Egypt and WIntershall Dea’s international operations are supporting the activities of our Joint Venture company Suez Oil Company. With the measures we have implemented, we are achieving the targeted increase in production on the one hand, but at the same time also sustainably increasing the safety and asset integrity of the infrastructure to the benefit of the environment on the other”.
Wintershall Dea currently produces about 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in Egypt, with the plan to further increase this rate significantly by the end of 2019.
With the merger of Wintershall Holding GmbH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, two successful companies with a long tradition have formed Europe’s leading independent natural gas and oil company: Wintershall Dea.
Wintershall Dea has held a Gala Dinner event at Salah Eldin Citadel in Cairo on July 21 among a group of high-level attendees, to celebrate the successful merger that has resulted in forming the largest European independent oil and gas company.
El Molla expressed during the Gala Dinner his enthusiasm about the merger and the plans it has for the Egyptian oil and gas sector.
The company with German roots and headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg explores for and produces gas and oil in 13 countries worldwide in an efficient and responsible manner. With activities in Europe, Russia, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Wintershall Dea has a global upstream portfolio and, with its participation in natural gas transport, is also active in the midstream business.
