Petrobel through its subsidiary Petro Shorouk, has been tasked with the responsibility of completing the first stage of development of the Zohr Field by the end of 2017.

The drill ship, Saipem 10000 to be used to drill the Zohr-2 well reached the field in late December to start the process of drilling. 

Eni came across the Zohr field which is considered to be the biggest natural gas find in the Mediterranean Sea in August 2015. Its volume in place are estimated at about 30tcf of gas. The company anticipates that the field will be able to assist in meeting Egypt’s gas needs in the future.

Egypt’s per day output of natural gas totals to approximately 4.5bcf, falling below existing domestic.

According to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC)’s CEO Mohamed Al Masry, the agreement it has with Eni includes the boosting of output to 2.7bcf/d of gas by 2019. He noted that the price of the extracted gas, is to be linked to an equation whereby the lowest price is $4 per million British Thermal Units (BTUs) and the highest is $5.88 per million BTUs.

The agreement, which will be revisited in 2019, stipulates that all gas produced from the field must go to the Egyptian domestic market, permitting exports only for excess gas, Daily News Egypt reports.

Anita Fatunji