Italian oil and gas company Eni has announced the discovery of new oil reserves in the Abu Rudeis Sidri development lease in the Gulf of Suez offshore Egypt.
Petrobel, the operating company of the Abu Rudeis Sidri development, had announced the drilling of an appraisal well of the Sidri South in July.
Eni and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) hold an equal stake in Petrobel.
According to Eni, the Sidri 36 appraisal well encountered a major hydrocarbon column in the clastic sequences of the Nubia Formation (200 metres of hydrocarbon column).
Sidri 36 was drilled to evaluate the field continuity westward in a down dip position with respect to Sidri-23 discovery well.
Eni said that the new well will be put into production in the next few days
Eni said that the new result continues the positive track record of the ‘near field’ exploration in the company’s concessions in Egypt and proves the efficacy of the use of new play concepts and the technology to re-evaluate areas where exploration was considered to have reached a high level of maturity.
The company said that the well will be put into production in the next few days and an initial flow rate of about 5,000 barrels per day is expected.
Petrobel has formulated a rapid development plan to put the new discovery on the ‘fast track’, using existing infrastructures in the vicinity of the well and maximising facilities synergies.
The company said that this strategy will be applied in future activities in the Sidri area. The next delineation and development wells will be connected to the production shortly.
Following the new results, the Sidri South discovery, estimated to contain 200 million barrels of oil in place, will be reassessed.
The Italian company has been operating in Egypt since 1954 and the current production is around 350,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
