Egyptian Zohr Field Ramps up Ahead of Plan

Gas output from the giant Zohr field off Egypt is above 2.7bn ft³/day, which is about five months ahead of schedule, the Italian operator Eni said August 21.

It said all eight onshore treatment production units – the last one commissioned in April 2019 – and all sulphur production units were online in August; and two production wells started up in the southern culmination of the field, in addition to the ten wells already drilled in the northern culmination. Most recently, the second of two 216-km, 30-inch pipelines connecting the offshore subsea production facilities to the onshore treatment plant came online August 18.

The new pipeline, in conjunction with the completion and optimisation of the plant treatment capacity, paves the way to increase, by the year end, the field's potential production rate up to 3.2bn ft³/day against the planned 2.7bn ft³/day, Eni said.

The Zohr field, the largest gas discovery ever made in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Sea, is in the offshore Shorouk Block. Eni owns 50%, Russian state-owned Rosneft 30% and UK major BP and Mubadala Petroleum each have 10% in the contractor's share. BP and Mubadala also own stakes in the Eni-operated offshore Noor field, with 25% and 20% respectively, and Eni on 40%.

Zohr is executed by Petrobel, the operating company jointly held by Eni and the state corporation Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), on behalf of Petroshorouk, jointly held by contractor Eni and its partners and the state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas holding Company.