The Ministry of Petroleum has announced that the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) and BP has entered into an agreements concerning transportation and the processing of natural gas in the country.

This agreements includes areas of construction, transportation and processing of gas produced from the Atoll field and an investment of $1 billion has been planned for the phase of development. An overall $3 billion is to be assigned for the complete development of the discovery.

According to the Petroleum minister, Tareq Al-Mulla, the gravity of strategic cooperation binding the petroleum sector with its international partners is built on reliability and shared trust.

The Atoll discovery which is being operated by BP with 100% interest in the North Damietta offshore concession in the East Nile Delta, offshore Egypt was declared in March 2015.

BP has said that the complete field development on Atoll is estimated to involve of two phases. Phase 1 will entail two development wells linked back to current infrastructure as production is anticipated to commence in 2018. The development of the field will be performed and operated by Pharaonic Petroleum Co., BP’s joint venture with EGAS and Eni.

The achievement of the phase 1 is estimated to elicit further investment and additional wells to boost production, Natural Gas Asia reports.

Anita Fatunji