Italian Oil Giant Announces Significant Oil Discovery in Egypt

VENTURES AFRICA – Eni, an Italian multinational Oil and gas company has announced a significant oil discovery in the Western Desert of Egypt.

According to the company’s website, the drilling of the well is part of Eni’s strategy to refocus exploration activities in Egypt by targeting deeper plays in the Western Desert.

Eni said in a statement on Thursday that the discovery is estimated at 150-250 million barrels of oil in place and will require further appraisal drilling. The discovery was made 290 kilometres south west of Alexandria, at the Emry Deep exploration prospect in the Meleiha Concession.

Eni owns a 56 percent working interest in the Meleiha Concession through its affiliate IEOC (International Egyptian Oil Company), with Russia’s Lukoil holding 24 percent stake and Japan’s Mitsui 20 percent.

According to the Italian oil giant, full field development foresees an early production phase from the current well, followed by drilling of other development wells in 2012 to reach a production level of approximately 10,000 barrels of oil per day in coming months.

Production will be routed to the nearby treatment facilities of Meleiha field.

Eni is the largest foreign energy player in Egypt, with presence in the country since 1954 via its fully owned affiliate IEOC.

In the Western Desert, Eni’s activities are currently producing around 36,000 boe/d from 5 different development leases, all operated by Agiba, a joint operating company owned by IEOC.