LNG

Egypt said it was planning to drill around 35 new exploratory natural gas wells in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Nile Delta by 2025 with $1.8 billion in investments in joint ventures with oil and gas majors and with a view to increasing liquefied natural gas production.

Italian energy company Eni has outlined a project to expand natural gas treatment facilities in Egypt connected to the Western Desert Gas Complex in the port of Alexandria to further tap the region's gas reserves.

The expansion of natural gas facilities coincided with an agreement with the Government of Egypt, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corp.(EGPC) and Russian oil company Lukoil for the merger of the concessions of Meleiha and Meleiha Deep, in Egypt's Western Desert, and their extension to 2036.

The extension of the Meleiha concession time also has the possibility of reaching out to a further timeline of 2041.

“The agreement, which marks another important result for Eni in the prolific basin of the Egyptian Western Desert, will unlock, through enhanced contractual terms, the area’s considerable resources,” explained Eni.

“The company will leverage the skills of local contractors already involved in the implementation of important projects in Egypt, including the fast-track development of the giant Zohr gas field,” said Eni.

Before the bringing on stream of the Zohr field in the East Mediterranean in 2017, Egypt had been forced to import LNG from 2015 in two floating storage and regasification units deployed at Ain Sokhna in the Gulf of Suez.

The Egyptians halted LNG imports two years ago and have now started regular exports of LNG from their two liquefaction facilities at Idku and Damietta, east of the port of Alexandria.

The Idku LNG export plant has been on stream again since 2017 under the operatorship of Royal Dutch Shell, which acquired original operator BG Group.

The Damietta facility only re-started operations and exports in February 2021.

With Damietta back on stream, Egypt added 4.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG output to its export volumes now totalling 12.5 MTPA.

The Milan-based major has completed a high-resolution 3D seismic acquisition of the Meleiha blocks ahead of intensive exploration and a development drilling campaign in the Meleiha and Meleiha Deep concessions.

The concessions are operated by Agiba, the 50-50 joint venture between Eni and EGPC through an Eni subsidiary that holds a 76 percent interest in the concessions, while Lukoil holds a 24 percent interest. 

Italian energy company Eni and UK major BP announced a new natural gas discovery in the “Great Nooros Area” of the Abu Madi West Development lease in the Nile Delta offshore Egypt and coupled with other finds in the block there is potential for LNG production.

Eni said that there could be more than 4 trillion cubic feet of gas in place in the Great Nooros Area where there have been other discoveries since 2015.

The latest exploration and production success for Eni is making the East Mediterranean Basin a potential world-class gas province with other nations such as Israel and Cyprus also making discoveries in recent years.

The Nile Delta Block operator Eni said the new discovery, achieved through the Nidoco NW-1 exploratory well, is located in 16 metres of water depth and is four kilometres north from the Nooros field discovered in July 2015.

The Nidoco NW-1 exploratory well discovered gas-bearing sands for a total thickness of 100 metres.

“In the Abu Madi formations a new level, which was not yet encountered in the Nooros field, has been crossed proving the high potential of the Great Nooros Area and the further extension of the gas potential to the North of the field,” explained the Italian company.

“The preliminary evaluation of the well results, considering the extension of the reservoir towards north and the dynamic behaviour of the field, together with the recent discoveries performed in the area, indicates that the Great Nooros Area gas in place can be estimated in excess of 4 Tcf,” stated Eni.

Eni said that together with its partner BP and in coordination with the Egyptian petroleum sector, it would begin screening the development options of this new discovery and available synergies with the area's existing infrastructure.

Eni holds a 75 percent stake in the license of Abu Madi West lease, while BP owns the remaining 25 percent stake.

The Italian company’s title of operator is in conjunction with Petrobel, an equal joint venture between Eni and the state company Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. (EGPC).

Eni signed a series of agreements in March 2020 with the government of Egypt and state-owned companies to re-open the nation’s Damietta LNG export plant east of Alexandria.

The plant, a joint venture called Segas, is 40 percent-owned by Eni through Union Fenosa Gas (50 percent Eni and 50 percent Naturgy).

The facility has a nameplate capacity of 5.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG, but has been idle since November 2012 when Egypt suffered natural gas shortages.

In addition to Damietta LNG, Egypt has a second export plant, the Idku facility operated by Royal Dutch Shell and which has been back in commercial operation since 2017.

Eni’s discovery of the huge Zohr gas field in the East Med in 2015 helped transform the Arab nation’s LNG and domestic gas fortunes.  

Delek Group of Israel and Noble Energy of the US have completed their acquisition of a stake and reverse capacity on the East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) pipeline from Arish in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula to Askelon in Israel as part of an agreement to supply Dolphinus Holdings of Egypt from the Israeli Leviathan natural gas field.

Plans of Egypt's state-run energy firms EGAS and EGPC to get a for a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) up and running this summer have faltered, as a deal with Norway's Höegh LNG faces serious hurdles. Competitor Excelerate Energy is back on the cards as the government seeks to avert looming gas and power shortages.