Royal Dutch Shell has announced the discovery of a new natural gas well in the Alam El-Shawish concession area in Egypt’s western desert.

According to Shell’s Chairman and CEO, Eden Murphy, initial quantity discovered from the well is estimated at around 500 billion cubic feet of gas with more possible reserves, thereby placing the new find among the largest natural gas discovered in the western desert.

This find is enough to produce from 10 to 15% of the overall production of Badr el-Din Petroleum Company.

Badr el-Din is a joint venture acting on behalf of state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Shell in production operations.

Shell however, owns the licence covering the entire area, including the well. The company was granted the right to explore the Alam El-Shawish area for oil and natural gas in 2012, and signed a deal with the ministry of Petroleum and EGPC at the end of 2013. Badr el-Din is expected to manage the operations, Energy-pedia reports.

Last year, Eni announced it discovered a massive gas field off the coast of Egypt, the largest ever found in the Mediterranean Sea.

Anita Fatunji