Production from Egypt’s huge Zohr offshore gas field in the Mediterranean will reach 2.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by mid-2019, Italy’s Eni said Feb. 12.
Speaking at an industry event in Cairo, CEO Claudio Descalzi said the goal was to reach output of 1.8 Bcf/d to 2 Bcf/d by year-end 2018 and then ramp up to 2.9 Bcf/d by mid-2019.
Discovered in 2015 by Eni, the field contains an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas.
Descalzi confirmed that by mid-2019, seven trains would be operating.
Egypt has been seeking to speed up production from recently discovered fields with an eye to halting imports by 2019 and achieving self-sufficiency.
The country’s petroleum minister said on Feb. 12 that Egypt’s current gas production stood at 5.5 Bcf/d.
Asked how many cargoes Egypt needed to fill the supply gap after a current tender for LNG is held, Tarek El Molla said, “very few.”
On the recent discovery of a natural gas field off Cyprus, Calypso 1, Descalzi said an appraisal well would have to be drilled to understand the real volumes there and that Eni would decide alongside France’s Total when to drill that well.
Asked whether it is believed to hold about 6 Tcf to 8 Tcf of gas, Descalzi said “It could be more or in that range. ... For sure it cannot be less, but we have to understand it.”
He added “It’s a good find that has merit to go ahead with additional investment.”
Perched on the maritime edge of two massive gas finds in the Levant Basin—Leviathan offshore Israel and Zohr offshore Egypt—Cyprus, which still relies on heavy and expensive fuel oil for its power stations, has been keen to emulate its neighbors’ success.
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