Eni announces three new oil & gas discoveries in Egypt

Italian energy major Eni has made three new oil and gas discoveries on its Meleiha concession in Egypt’s Western Desert for approximately 8,500 barrels/day of oil equivalent, the company announced.

The discoveries have already been tied into production, in line with Eni’s infrastructure-led exploration strategy, the company said.

“The results were obtained through Nada E Deep 1X well, which encountered 60m of net hydrocarbon pay in the Cretaceous-Jurassic Alam El Bueib & Khatatba formations, Meleiha SE Deep 1X well, which found 30m of net hydrocarbon pay in the Cretaceous-Jurassic sands of the Matruh & Khatatba formations, and Emry Deep 21 well, which encountered 35m of net hydrocarbon pay in the massive cretaceous sandstones of Alam El Bueib,” Eni said in a statement on Wednesday.

The results, along with discoveries from last year for a total of eight exploration wells, give a 75 percent success rate and confirm the potential of the area, Eni said. Other exploration activities in the concession are ongoing with promising indications, it added.

With these discoveries, Eni continues to pursue its near field strategy in the mature basin of the Western Desert, aimed at maximising production by containing development costs and minimising time to market, the company said.

Earlier this week, Eni said it had agreed with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) to boost gas production and step up exploration at existing and new fields. The company said the agreement could result in shipping up to 3 billion cubic meters of LNG to Europe this year.

The move comes as Italy and Europe step up efforts to find new and alternative gas imports to cut their reliance on Russian gas following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.