Eni strikes hydrocarbons in Egypt's Western Desert

Eni has encountered three oil and gas finds with an average flow rate of 8,500 barrels of oil equivalent/day at its Meleiha concession in the Egyptian Western Desert, the company said on April 13.

News of the successful exploration probes came as Eni entered into an LNG supply agreement with the national government of Egypt on April 13. All three discoveries have been tied into Eni's existing production infrastructure in the Meleiha area.

The flow rate was achieved at the Nada E Deep 1 X probe, which struck a net hydrocarbon pay of 60 m across Cretaceous and Jurassic era sandstones in the Alam El Bueib and Khatatba formations, as well as the Meleiha SE Deep 1X well, which found 30 m of net hydrocarbon pay in Cretaceous-Jurassic sands.

A third probe, Emry Deep 21, encountered a 35 m net hydrocarbon column in the massive cretaceous sandstones of Alam El Beuib. Well testing indicates there is a 75% chance of successfully developing the new resources.

The Italian major said the discoveries backed its near field strategy in the mature Western Desert. The strategy aims to maximise output at accelerated lead times while keeping a lid on development costs.

Eni was recently awarded two new exploration blocks in the Meleiha and plans to commission a 3D seismic shoot of the new acreage later this year.  The company also made five discoveries in the area in 2021. The discoveries included Jasmine W-1X, MWD-21 and SWM-4X, which preliminary estimates suggest could contain 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent of in-place hydrocarbons.

In June last year, Eni agreed to merge its concession with the Meleiha Deep licence through a partnership with Lukoil, state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. and the Egyptian government. The deal provides for the development of a new gas treatment plant to further exploit the area's gas reserves.