Italian oil major Eni has completed its first appraisal well on the giant Zohr gas discovery in the deep water Shorouk block offshore Egypt.
The firm, which is now preparing for a well test, says the latest well on Zohr confirms the Zohr structure as a "single and continuous mega tank of natural gas."
Zohr 2X encountered 1614ft (455m) of continuous hydrocarbon column in a carbonate sequence with excellent reservoir characteristics (305m net pay), says Eni.
The Zohr 2X well was drilled 1.5km southeast from from the Zohr 1X exploration well, and down-dip of it, on the flank of the Zohr’s structure, in 4800ft water depth.
Eni plans to drill a further three wells on Zohr, which it says has the potential to hold up to 30 Tcf (5.5 billion boe) in place.
On Monday this week, Eni said it planned to start production from Zohr in 2017, after being approved to take over the development lease from Egypt's national Natural Gas Holding Company.
Production would progressively ramp up to about 75 MMscm/d by 2019, more than doubling its 2015 production, according to Eni.
According to IHS Energy, Zohr has the potential to supply much of Egypt’s increasing domestic gas demand and will likely have an impact on regional gas commercialization plans. In addition, the technical, commercial, and strategic implications of Zohr is estimated to impact Egypt, the region and the industry, where Egypt’s access to monetization infrastructure will likely put it ahead of rivals if commercial terms are right.
Eni has been present in Egypt since 1954 through its subsidiary IEOC Production, which discovered the Abu Madi field in 1967. In 2015, the equity production in the country was about 200,000 boe/d.
The firm also announced another discovery on its onshore Abu Madi West license, Nooros East 1X. This will be tied in to existing infrastructure.
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