Drilling operations in Zohr gas field to resume in December: Italian energy giant Eni is set to resume drilling at the Zohr gas field in December of this year, with the arrival of a rig to drill two new wells, Oil Minister Karim Badawi said yesterday when he joined Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly for his weekly presser.

The move aims to restore some of the Zohr field’s production: The government aims to increase production at the gas field — Egypt’s largest and the Mediterranean’s largest-ever find — by 220 mn cubic feet per day through the drilling, Badawi said. This should help restore some of the field’s production, which has declined from a peak of 2.76 bn cubic feet per day in 3Q 2021 to below 2 bn cf/d in 1H 2024.

Our production capacity rose over the last quarter: Egypt’s production capacity rose by 30k barrels of oil per day and 133 mn cf/d of natural gas during the first quarter of FY 2024-25, Badawi said. Overall production currently stands at 1.4 mn barrels of oil equivalent per day, he added.

Remember: Oil players have been ramping up their activity in Egypt after the government started clearing its arrears to foreign oil and gas companies operating in the country and the recently-introduced incentive package for oil and gas players helped sweeten the pot even further.

The plans to clear all arrears: The Madbouly government will be making monthly payments to foreign oil and gas companies with local operation in efforts to lower the arrears owed, Badawi said.

DATA POINT- The country’s natural gas production fell 20-25% over the past two years, the minister said. And the gap between the cost of petroleum products and their local selling price is somewhere between 11-21%.

BP AND APACHE ALSO HAVE PLANS IN THE PIPELINE-

US oil producer Apache has been awarded four exploration blocks in the Western Desert, Badawi continued. An agreement was reached between the two sides on the incentive package and the pricing of the gas produced, with production expected to gradually increase to reach 80 mn cf/d by the end of 2025, he added.

ICYMI: Earlier this week we heard that Apache plans to increase its daily natural gas production in Egypt 11% to 500 mn cf during the current fiscal year. Apache had planned to invest USD 1.4 bn on exploration and production in Egypt in 2024 as part of a wider plan to spend USD 3.5 bn here by 2027.

AND- BP to bring the second well of its Raven project online soon: Global energy giant BP will be expediting the drilling of the second well at the Raven natural gas field, Badawi said, adding that the additional production capacity is set to come online by January 2025. He also noted that drilling at BP’s King Mariout Offshore concession is set to begin at the start of 2025.

Remember: Last month we heard that BP was planning to invest some USD 400 mn during FY 2024-25 to drill two new wells at the Raven natural gas field, with the additional drilling set to add 400 mn cf/d of natural gas to the field’s total production.

ALSO- UK oil and gas giant Shell started production from its well in the West Delta Deep Marine earlier this month, producing 30-40 mn cf/d. The company is investing some USD 227 mn to start producing from two other wells in the field by the end of the year, bringing its total production to 160 mn cf/d.

And more to come: International companies, including Chevron and Exxon Mobil, will up their exploration activity in the west Mediterranean in the coming two months.

FOUR MOUS FOR OIL & GAS EXPLORATION SIGNED-

EGPC signs 4 MoUs with a number of firms for energy exploration: State-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) signed four separate MoUs with Elsewedy Industrial Development, Ezz Steel, Ades Holding, and a consortium of Hassan Allam Holding and Infinity Power aimed at ramping up oil and natural gas exploration alongside production and field development, according to a separate cabinet statement.

The gov’t wants to further develop certain mature fields: The MoUs aim to encourage exploration in general but emphasize the mature fields in the Gulf of Suez and the Eastern and Western Deserts, Badawi said during the presser.

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