Eni has invested $3.5 to 4 billion in accomplishing the Zohr natural gas production processing plant, at a capacity of 2.7billion cubic feet of gas per day, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El-Molla, revealed.

According to El-Molla, the overall investments in the Zohr gas field are estimated at $12bn pending the time production begins. After that investments will then be increased to $16bn to extend the life of the field.

He added that Eni is at the moment, making plans to facilitate the production processes as regards the receiving and processing of the gas in Port Said.

The Minister noted that the capacity of the Shorouk gas processing plant is estimated at 2.7Bcfpd of gas, and that the technical committee has been granted the acreage to start the building process and connect it to the gas reception plant in the area.

Eni intends to connect about 900 Mmcf/d of gas to the national grid by the end of 2017 or in Q1 of 2018. By 2020, the project’s production rate is expected to reach 2.7 Bcfpd of gas.

The Italian company is drilling the Zohr-5 well. The Phase 1 of the field’s development includes the drilling of six developmental wells, expected to commence production at the end of 2017 at a rate of 900 Mmcf/d of gas.

Works on the Zohr field developing project is in progress and includes both the drilling of the developmental wells and the construction works on land to receive and process the gases from Zohr field, so as to put it on the production map, El-Molla said adding that, the results achieved so far has been positive and promising, Daily News Egypt reports.

Anita Fatunji