Eni makes gas discovery in Nour prospect offshore Egypt

Italian oil and gas company Eni has announced a new gas discovery under evaluation in the Nour exploration prospect offshore Egypt.

The prospect is located in the Nour North Sinai Concession in the Eastern Egyptian Mediterranean, 50km north of the Sinai Peninsula. The concession covers a total area of 739km², with water depths ranging from 50-400m.

This latest discovery was made at the Nour-1 New Field Wildcat (NFW) exploratory well, which was drilled by the Scarabeo 9 semi-submersible unit in a water depth of 295m, reaching a total depth of 5,914m.

The well has not yet been tested, but Eni said it had carried out an “intense and accurate” data acquisition.

The NFW well found 33m of gross sandstone pay in the Tineh formation of Oligocene age with “good petrophysical properties” according to Eni, as well as an estimated gas column of 90m.

Eni is the operator of the Nour North Sinai Concession in participation with Egyptian Natural Gas Holding (EGAS), which has a 40% stake. Partners in the concession are BP (25%), Mubadala Petroleum (20%) and Tharwa Petroleum (15%). Eni operates in Egypt through its subsidiary the Italian Egyptian Oil Company (IEOC).

Eni divested a 20% interest in the Nour North Sinai Concession to Mubadala Petroleum in November 2018, with an additional 25% being sold to BP in December 2018.

The company plan to start feasibility studies after finalising the discovery evaluation, to “accelerate the exploitation of these new resources leveraging the synergies with existing facilities and infrastructures.”

Eni said in a press release: “The company is [Egypt’s] leading producer with equity above 340,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day that will further growth in 2019 with the ramp-up of the Zohr Project to production plateau.”