Zohr field’s production capacity now exceeds 3 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d), representing 40% of Egypt’s total natural gas production, Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, stated.
The minister announced that the drilling of Zohr’s southern wells have been completed and put on the production map to bring the total number of the field’s production wells to 15. The minister statements came during Petro Shorouk’s and Belayim Petroleum Company’s (Petrobel) general assembly meeting with Chairman Atef Hassan. Hassan added that the Zohr development project ran at a cost of $10.4 billion up until the end of June.
Hassan stated that during the fiscal year (FY) 2019/20, the company extended the second offshore production line with a diameter of 30 inches, in addition to completing the subsurface network. To improve production, Petro Shorouk completed its onshore treatment units which included; two sulfur recovery units and some modifications in the onshore treatment plant and the well-included desalination plant.
Hassan reviewed Petrobel’s progress during the same FY, stating that the company’s maximum production capacity of its affiliated fields, including Zohr, reached nearly 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mmbbloe/d). Soon after developing its production fields in the Gulf of Suez, the company was able to produce about 1.1 bcf/d of natural gas, about 70,000 bbl/d of crude, in addition to 12,000 bbl/d of condensate, and about 280 tons of butane per day. The Chairman pointed out that Petrobel’s investments reached $720 million and managed to rationalize expenditures by more than $50 million.
Petrobel has also completed the development of the Baltim South West offshore natural gas field, bringing the total number of producing wells to four wells with a production capacity of 415 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/d). Furthermore, Well Nidoku NW-1 was drilled, and new reserves were added in the Kafr El-sheik, not to mention the new Bashrush discovery in the North Hammad concession area.
El Molla noted that with Eni’s assistance and its partners to Petrobel, the company should utilize the latest seismic technologies when it comes to exploration. This will help in exploring the geological structures with petroleum potentials and increase crude reserves and production.
