Eni has discovered a huge natural
gas field offshore Egypt in what the Italian group said is the
largest find ever in the Mediterranean Sea.
Eni made the finding near the Zohr prospect in the Shorouk
block.
The deep-water deposit Zohr 1X, through which the finding
was made, is located 1,450 meters underwater, in the Shorouk
bloc agreed in January 2014 with the Egyptian oil ministry and
the Egyptian Natural gas Holding company (EGAS), after an
international tender.
From the geological and geophysics information available,
and data acquired from the deposit - the company said - the "the
supergiant field presents a potential of resources of up to 850
billion cubic meters of gas (equivalent to 5,5 billion barrels
of oil) and stretches over some 100 square kilometers.
"Zohr represents the most important discovery of gas ever made
in Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea and could become one of the
most significant discoveries of gas worldwide.
"This drilling success will offer a fundamental
contribution in satisfying Egyptian demand of natural gas for
decades.
"Eni will undertake in the immediate future activities to
delineate the field to ensure the accelerated development of the
finding exploiting existing infrastructures at their best, at
sea and inland".
The Zohr 1X field, overall drilled 4,131 meters deep, has
met some 630 meters of hydrocarbons column in a sequence from
the Miocene Epoch, according to the company.
The structure of Zohr also presents a more in-depth
potential which will be investigated in the future through a
dedicated field.
Eni's CEO Claudio Descalzi has travelled to Cairo to update
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi on this important
success and talk about the discovery with the country's Premier
Ibrahim Mahlab and Oil and Mineral Resources Minister Sherif
Ismail.
"It is a truly important day for our company and people at
Eni - said Descalzi.
"This important result confirms our knowledge and ability
for technological innovation with immediate operational
implementation and most of all shows the spirit of strong
cooperation between all parts of the company that are behind
these great successes.
"The strategy that made us insist on looking for mature
areas in countries we have known for decades has been a winner,
proof that Egypt still has great potential.
"This historic discovery will be able to transform the
energy scenario of a whole country which has welcomed us for
over 60 years".
The exploration is at the center of the company's growth
strategy, he added, with 10 billion barrels of resources
discovered over the past seven years and 300 million in the last
six months, confirming Eni's position at the top of the
industry.
This discovery has even greater value as it was made in
Egypt, a strategic country for Eni, where important synergies
can be exploited with existing installations enabling quick
production, the CEO also said.
Premier Matteo Renzi welcomed the discovery, congratulating
Eni for "this extraordinary result of a searching job that is
part of relations between Italy and Egypt within an
economic-strategic partnership concerning Italy and more in
general the whole African continent".
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