Gas production at Egypt's 9B field to begin in October

Shell is due to begin production from its two deepwater wells at the West Nile Delta field 9B in the first half of October, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla said, according to an Oil Ministry statement. The entire project is set to come online by 2H2019, producing up to 400 mcfd. Shell said in May it was planning to begin pumping 100 mcfd from the project in 3Q2018. The first phase of the project will include linking two out of the total eight wells to the national grid in 3Q and 4Q2018, followed by a third well in 1Q2019. Phase two will see the remaining five wells linked to the national grid in 3Q-4Q2019. Separately, El Molla met with Halliburton’s President of Eastern Hemisphere Joe Rainey to discuss cooperation in setting up an electronic platform for marketing available concessions for oil and gas exploration and production, under two agreements signed back in April.