Eni has begun production of some 5,000 barrels of oil per day at the South West Meleiha permit in Egypt's Western Desert, output that is expected to reach 7,000 bopd by September, the energy giant said on Tuesday.
The company has also made two new oil discoveries in the Meleiha permit, a gas find in the new onshore El Qara exploration lease in the Nile Delta and a new oil discovery in the Gulf of Suez in the Abu Rudeis Sidri development lease, according to Eni's statement.
The oil from the South West Meleiha development lease of is transported and treated at the Meleiha Plant facilities operated by AGIBA, a company equally owned by Eni's subsidiary IEOC and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, according to the statement.
Other exploration wells are now planned to be drilled on nearby prospects within the exploration area following the oil discoveries made at South West Meleiha in 2018, said the statement.
Eni, through IEOC, holds a 50% interest in South West Meleiha while EGPC holds the remaining 50%. AGIBA is the permit operator.
AGIBA also recently made two additional near field oil discoveries in the Meleiha development lease in the Western Desert, specifically in the Basma and Shemy prospects, the statement said.
At Basma, two wells have been successfully drilled and are already in production from the Jurassic Khatabta formation, while on Shemy prospect a well is currently under testing and targeting oil from the Matruh sands. Moreover, in the Meleiha development lease AGIBA has successfully continued a deepening campaign on existing shallow wells targeting the Alam El Bueib Cretaceous formation.
These deepened wells are now contributing with about 6,000 bopd to Meleiha's ouput and all the new developments in the Western Desert are contributing over 15, 000 bopd to AGIBA's production.
In the Nile Delta area, Eni has successfully drilled and tested the El Qara-NE1 well, which found gas in the sandstones of the Abu Madi formation. During the clean-up, the well delivered 17 MMscfd and associated condensates. The well will be tied in to existing facilities and production will be delivered to the Abu Madi gas plant operated by Petrobel (IEOC 50% - EGPC 50%) once a development lease is granted.
Eni through its subsidiary IEOC holds a 37.50% interest in the El Qara exploration lease, granted in 2018, while BP has a 12.5% interest and EGPC a 50% interest.
Petrobel, a joint venture between Eni and EGCP, is the operator of the lease.
In the Gulf of Suez, in the Abu Rudeis Sidri development lease IEOC, through Petrobel, has successfully drilled a new well on the Sidri South exploration prospect which resulted in an oil discovery that may hold up to 200 MMbbl of oil in place, the statement noted.
The well was completed and brought on stream through production facilities available in the area and Petrobel has a plan to develop the new discovery with about 10 wells that will be drilled in the near future.
The Abu Rudeis Sidri permit is held equally by IEOC and EGPC.
Eni has operated in Egypt since 1954, where it is the main producer with approximately 350,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day equity. Output is expected to increase further this year, thanks to the ramp-up of the mammoth Zohr field and the start-up of Baltim South West fields.
